2 Samuel 7:1-14a
Ephesians 2:11-22
Year B
7th Sunday after Pentecost
“The House of God”
July 19, 2009
Walls – why we need them
Walls are an important part of our life. What would we do without them, especially in our climate. They protect us, they help us define ourselves, it separates us from people and things that are not in our best interest. And there are certain walls, in certain buildings with have great meaning for us. They tell our story of who we are and what is important to us.
Houses – beautiful homes
Walls are an important part of our dwellings. They create beautiful homes and buildings.
Beautiful houses of God
Some of the most beautiful buildings in the world are the ones that we build for God. The cathedrals of Europe are amazing. Oak Park has some beautiful churches also, which sanctuaries which truly make you think of the throne room of God. St Edmunds is a truly amazing sanctuary. People constantly compliment our own sanctuary. The stain glass says worship God in a place of beauty.
Long tradition – tradition of all to say thank you
Creating a beautiful place to worship God is a part of our worship experience. So when David decided that he was going to build a beautiful house for God – he was just trying to make sure that his God, had the same respect that all of the others gods of the people around him had. When a national leader came into power, it was expected that you would build a momument for God. What better monument to God could there be besides a house to come and to worship, and say thank you and to acknowledge God as the king of our lives.
David’s intention -If he was going to be king – God had to be king
David’s intention were very pure. He realized that if he was going to be King, that God had to also be King. God ad brought him from a very long way. God had brought him through some pretty tough times. God had bought his people through some times which questioned the very foundation of who they were and who they were supposed to be. But God had bought David to a good place now, he had bought the country to a stable place. And it was time to make sure that God was in that same place, and taken care of just as well.
God grows with us – David’s relationship with God
In many ways, it seemed that as David’s life changed, God changed with him. There was a time when God was a war God. God was the one who called the Isrealites into war to conquer the land and take it from others. God was the one who supported them in battle, God was the one who strengthened them to survive and to establish a homeland, in the midst of enemies. God protected David when he was a warrior, and God anointed him when he became King.
Isreal’s relationship with God
There was a time when Israel was given strict instructions not to have a King. God was their king. But they realized that as time went on that they needed a king in order to survive as a nation of people. God permitted the change, because as the people changed, their needs and what was best for them changed.
History of God
God is still a God of change. And as we grow as a people – so does our God. It was not that long ago in history that churches used scripture to justify slavery, and the ensuing racism that followed. We still use the bible to justify wars, and killings and all sorts of bad things that hurt other people. And it has taken us years to change the definition of those words – to realize that there are other ways to treat people.
Example of road to freedom
Yesterday, a friend and I went to see the Road to Freedom exhibit with the Chicago Urban League at the field museum. It was a collections of photos from the civil rights era. It was a pretty moving event, but one photo struck my attention. It was a picture of one of the nine young people who first desegrated the school in Little Rock. One of the girls arrived a day early because she did not get word that the event had been postponed a day. This photo was of her walking to school – and there were a large group of girls from the school behind her – they were scowling at her, and her their fist raised. The girls in the picture were 15-16 years old. I would imagine that by now they would be grandmothers. Both my friend and I wondered what conversation would ensue if these women had a conversation with their grandchildren today about that picture. How would they respond when their grandchildren asked them why they were so upset with that little girl just because she was going to school.
Who is God today? Who do we worship as our God
The world which we live in had changed dramatically even in the last 40 years. And so has our view of God. Who is the God which we worship today? What does that God stand for in society? And it is will be interesting what views that we are stuck with and that we use God to defend, will be totally useless in 10 – 15 years, because the world has changed.
David learned an important lesson
Our view of God changes with our understanding of the world. Yet David had to learn an important lesson that day. Just because the world changes, just because our understanding of God changes – God remains the same.
Nathan said no
David was told that he was not the build God’s house. That God was not ready to join him in the mist of his success
God is still king. God lives with the people.God doesn’t live inside of walls.
David could not build a house for God – but God would build a house for David.
God promised David that there would always be a member of his family on the throne. That his son would build the temple That his sons would be blessed, and that his son would have to power to be raised up so that David’s name would be remembered forever.
People are the true house of God.
God doesn’t live within walls, and never will. The true house of God is the hearts of his people. That is where God has always lived and where God will always live. God is free to live with the people.
The real problem are walls of our hearts.
Walls are important to us, they protect us. They define us, they tell our story. But walls can also hold us in, they can keep us trapped in beliefs that no longer serve out best interest, they can keep other people out, they can keep us from really witnesses what god is doing in the world. They do not contain the spirit of God. The real problem is not the walls that we build around us, the real problem is the walls that we build inside of us.
Soldier story
In World War I, there was a soldier who was killed in France. His friends wanted to make sure that he was buried before they had to move on. They went to the nearest cemetery to ask if they could bury their friend. The priest asked if he had been baptized catholic – and he had not. So the priest said that he could not be buried. Distraught they buried their friend right outside of the walls of the cemetery. The next day – the priest feeling guilty for not allowing the soldier to be buried within the walls –went outside and moved the fence, so that the soldiers grave would be inside.
There are barriers that still need to be torn down
People still need to bring them down.
Ephesians talks about the walls of our hearts. The ways that we define ourselves in order to exclude those who are not like us. There were still ways that the congregation was dividing itself. Jews felt that they could not associate with gentiles. Greeks felt they could not talk to barbarians. - Anyone who is not like me is an outsider was the mindset. Ephesians message was that through Christ we are a new people. We are one people. Like to priest of the cemetery. He doesn’t change the rules, he just expands them to include everyone else. He changes definitions. The jews separated themselves as a way to get close to God – Through Christ, we are all bought near to God.
Ephesians – we go from strangers to family
All people, no matter who we are go from strangers and aliens to citizens, saints, members of the household of God. We go from divided, suspicious, self destructive to unified, loving and most importantly hopeful.
There are Changes in language, Changes in understanding,
Changing the way we include people
Kindergarten story
There is a television documentary about a kindergarten teacher who noticed that the thing she heard most on the playground was “No you cant play with us”. So she made a rule that from now on, all children had to play with whomever asked to play. Even in kindergarten, the children protested. How could we play with anyone who asked. We have a right to define who we want to play with. Other kids in the school could not understand this rule either. Why would you play with just anyone? The kindergarten agreed that they would try to go along with the rule for a week. When they say it worked – they agreed to do it all of the time. It helped them to meet new friends. A few years later, the teacher saw one of her former students in the store. Lisa was twelve now. She asked her old teacher if she still used the play with anyone rule. Yes replied the teacher. Lisa told her teacher that she too stuck to the rule – if including anyone who wanted to play with her in her world. It was very difficult. She got a lot of flack from her friends. A lot of people did not understand her, even more criticized her. But it was important for her to carry on with the rule to learn to play with anyone.
How do we play with others?
Walls are beautiful things. They are an important part of our life. But they also keep us locked in, they trap us, they stop us from seeing what God is doing in the world, and they stop us from participating in the real work of God. God inside of our walls, but God is also in the world. God dwells in the homes created for God, but God also lives in the hearts of his people. Those inside and outside.
Who are the outsiders today? Who are the ones asking to play with us, and what are the ways that we tell them no? Today we live in a world that is so global, that we are neighborhood is bigger them we can comprehend. Jesus is calling us to think beyond being a good neighbor – to become a family of brothers and sisters. In spite of our differences, inspite of our different understandings – there is only one God. One god who has been with the people and always will. Where are we?
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Dancing for God with all of our might
July 12, 2009
“Dancing for God with all of our might”
2 Samuel 6:1-19
Ephesians 1:3-14
Year B
6th Sunday after Pentecost
The story of David
This summer, we have been following the life of David. We have learned about his anointing as the King. And now we learn more about his life. What is it that makes him so special. Why is it that the people love him so much, that they follow him. We learn about his personal life. His first wife is Saul’s daughter Michal. They grew up together, and eventually got married.
The Story of Michal
In the story, David is the hero. But Michal is depicted as a bitter woman. She didn’t seem to understand David. And may have mourned her father’s role as the first king of Isreal. She scolds david in this story – and later it says that she never had kids because she could not accept David as the king of Isreal.
But I think Michal is getting a bad wrap- as many women in the bible usually do.
Imagine this – you have been sitting home all day cleaning house and waiting for your husband to come home after a long day at work. You hear a commotion outside, and you look out the curtain of the front window to see what is going on. You see your husband dancing – You notice that there is nothing under his outgarment – so his private parts are showing as he is dancing all over the place. If that is not bad enough – you notice that three young girls are standing on the corner - with their eyes glued to his groin area. All of these young girls are from your neighborhood – you have known them all since they were born, and today they are all staring at your husband’s private parts. When he finally comes in the house – what do you say to him? How was your day? Or why were you dancing like that in front of all of the neighborhood? Given the circumstance, that would seem like a very likely question. Not a sign of bitterness at all.
Some even say that Michal was actually a very wise woman, concerned about what others would think of her husband and protective of his reputation.
We will never know – because the story depicts her otherwise.
David’s point – dancing with all of your might
The story is not about Michal, but about David. More importantly about David’s faith, and the point of the story is that David was willing to worship God with all of his might.
David was not the best of persons, did some pretty bad things.
The bible is a very vulnerable story about David. It doesn’t depict him in a very good light. David did some pretty bad things. And the bible even admits that he did not pay as much attention to his family as he should have. Not only did he not listen to Michal, he never seemed to care about his wives, and he let his children do whatever they wanted. With no discipline.
This was a political story – he claimed the kinghood, not only over the past, but also the future.
There is also the fair accusation that the only thing David really cared about was becoming King. Marrying Saul’s daughter in the first place could have been a political move. He united Israel and Judah, and established Jerusalem as his capital. He did not want anyone to question him – or his ancestors behind them.
But he loved God – he devoted his life to God both the good and the bad.
But the one thing the Bible wants to make clear – David was not the best of persons – but he loved God. He worshipped God and he devoted his life to God. He was not the best of persons – but he bought God with him wherever he went.
The center of the story is not David, but the presence of God – the ark of convenant.
As a matter of fact, the center of this story is not Michal of David, it is the presence of God in the Ark of Covenent. The isrealites took the ark with them in every battle. It helped them to win.
What was in the ark of convanent?
The ark was a wooden box with angels on top of it. It was believed to have to tablets of the ten commandements inside, along with a lot of others things, which contained the power of God. Today there is a legend that the ark is in South Africa. A group of people who say there were descendents of the keepers of the ark, took it there and they keep it inside of a church – no one is allowed to come near them inside of the church so there is no way to verify if it is really the ark.
The presence of God represented both promise and danger - Uzzah was killed for touching the Ark, but Obed prospered.
The point is that the ark is thought to be very powerful presence. On the one hand, Uzzah was killed just for touching the ark to save it from falling. David asked another family to keep the ark for safekeeping. David noticed that for three months Obed and his family did very well while keeping the ark. One the one hand the presence of God is dangerous to handle, something to be feared, and yet on the other hand God is wonderful and someone to depend on. God is promise and danger – isn’t that a lot like our thought s on God. Someone to fear, yet someone to depend on?
David had reached a point in his life when he realized that he could not serve without God – He realized that he needed God in his life.
Weighing both sides of God – promise ad danger, David realized that he could not go forward as King, without the blessing of God. There was no way he could serve the people – without God’s presence.
We all have to reach the point in our lives – when we see that God’s power never serves us and our person power and plans – We come to understand that our power and our plansis to to serve God and God’s purpose.
Ephesians speaks to that point
Ephesians is a Lots of words – but basically it makes three points: God adopts us; God redeems us; God unites us
We are given a purpose in life – to praise God
We should Praise God in everything
Dancing on the chips
A friend of mine tells a story of a day in her life. She had had a long week at work, and she was having friends over for the weekend. Of course on Saturday morning, she had a lot that needed to be done before her friends arrived. She went to the bank – and the teller made a mistake. She went to the store and realized that she had forgot half of what was on her list. She had 45 minutes to fix lunch for her friends. She thought of soup – but realized she had forgot milk. She thought of leftover bake beans only to see they had been in the refrigerator too long and had molded. She thought she would have potato chips and hot dogs. She went to open the bag of potato chips that she had just bought. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t open them, when she got them opened them, she did not realize that she opened the wrong side. All of the potato chips fell on the ground. That was the last straw. She started to scream and cry. Her husband immediately came in to see what was wrong. She expected that he would at least help her clean them up. Instead he laughed at her, and then started to dance on the chips – grinding them into her floor. All she could do was laugh – laugh at herself, laugh at the situation. She had expected her husband to clean up her mess and make it all better, instead, he have her the moment of gladness that broke her mood and helped her to take her day in stride and keep on going forward.
How many times in life does God do that for us. We are waiting for God to come in an clean things up and make things better, and instead God comes into our lives and dances. Giving us a moment to stop and to think about the important things in life, and to realize that messes come and go, but we have to take it all into perspective. And just dance along with the situation. And with God.
Our purpose is not only to be aware of the presence, but to also respond to it – to dance to the rhythm of life.
Life flows, life comes and goes, there are ups and downs. Seasons of life
Question to you – what dance do you do? Foxtrot, the moon walk Just dance Where is your ark of convenant – the presence of God to keep you centered? What is God’s purpose for your life?
Lee Ann Womacks song – I hope you dance is one of my favorite songs – because it reminds us to dance like full out, without no regard for who is watching or what they think, no matter what.
She says….I hope you never lose your sense of wonder You get your fill to eat But always keep that hunger May you never take one single breath for granted God forbid love ever leave you empty handed I hope you still feel small When you stand by the ocean Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance I hope you dance I hope you dance
Live, love, serve, cry, pray with all of your might.
“Dancing for God with all of our might”
2 Samuel 6:1-19
Ephesians 1:3-14
Year B
6th Sunday after Pentecost
The story of David
This summer, we have been following the life of David. We have learned about his anointing as the King. And now we learn more about his life. What is it that makes him so special. Why is it that the people love him so much, that they follow him. We learn about his personal life. His first wife is Saul’s daughter Michal. They grew up together, and eventually got married.
The Story of Michal
In the story, David is the hero. But Michal is depicted as a bitter woman. She didn’t seem to understand David. And may have mourned her father’s role as the first king of Isreal. She scolds david in this story – and later it says that she never had kids because she could not accept David as the king of Isreal.
But I think Michal is getting a bad wrap- as many women in the bible usually do.
Imagine this – you have been sitting home all day cleaning house and waiting for your husband to come home after a long day at work. You hear a commotion outside, and you look out the curtain of the front window to see what is going on. You see your husband dancing – You notice that there is nothing under his outgarment – so his private parts are showing as he is dancing all over the place. If that is not bad enough – you notice that three young girls are standing on the corner - with their eyes glued to his groin area. All of these young girls are from your neighborhood – you have known them all since they were born, and today they are all staring at your husband’s private parts. When he finally comes in the house – what do you say to him? How was your day? Or why were you dancing like that in front of all of the neighborhood? Given the circumstance, that would seem like a very likely question. Not a sign of bitterness at all.
Some even say that Michal was actually a very wise woman, concerned about what others would think of her husband and protective of his reputation.
We will never know – because the story depicts her otherwise.
David’s point – dancing with all of your might
The story is not about Michal, but about David. More importantly about David’s faith, and the point of the story is that David was willing to worship God with all of his might.
David was not the best of persons, did some pretty bad things.
The bible is a very vulnerable story about David. It doesn’t depict him in a very good light. David did some pretty bad things. And the bible even admits that he did not pay as much attention to his family as he should have. Not only did he not listen to Michal, he never seemed to care about his wives, and he let his children do whatever they wanted. With no discipline.
This was a political story – he claimed the kinghood, not only over the past, but also the future.
There is also the fair accusation that the only thing David really cared about was becoming King. Marrying Saul’s daughter in the first place could have been a political move. He united Israel and Judah, and established Jerusalem as his capital. He did not want anyone to question him – or his ancestors behind them.
But he loved God – he devoted his life to God both the good and the bad.
But the one thing the Bible wants to make clear – David was not the best of persons – but he loved God. He worshipped God and he devoted his life to God. He was not the best of persons – but he bought God with him wherever he went.
The center of the story is not David, but the presence of God – the ark of convenant.
As a matter of fact, the center of this story is not Michal of David, it is the presence of God in the Ark of Covenent. The isrealites took the ark with them in every battle. It helped them to win.
What was in the ark of convanent?
The ark was a wooden box with angels on top of it. It was believed to have to tablets of the ten commandements inside, along with a lot of others things, which contained the power of God. Today there is a legend that the ark is in South Africa. A group of people who say there were descendents of the keepers of the ark, took it there and they keep it inside of a church – no one is allowed to come near them inside of the church so there is no way to verify if it is really the ark.
The presence of God represented both promise and danger - Uzzah was killed for touching the Ark, but Obed prospered.
The point is that the ark is thought to be very powerful presence. On the one hand, Uzzah was killed just for touching the ark to save it from falling. David asked another family to keep the ark for safekeeping. David noticed that for three months Obed and his family did very well while keeping the ark. One the one hand the presence of God is dangerous to handle, something to be feared, and yet on the other hand God is wonderful and someone to depend on. God is promise and danger – isn’t that a lot like our thought s on God. Someone to fear, yet someone to depend on?
David had reached a point in his life when he realized that he could not serve without God – He realized that he needed God in his life.
Weighing both sides of God – promise ad danger, David realized that he could not go forward as King, without the blessing of God. There was no way he could serve the people – without God’s presence.
We all have to reach the point in our lives – when we see that God’s power never serves us and our person power and plans – We come to understand that our power and our plansis to to serve God and God’s purpose.
Ephesians speaks to that point
Ephesians is a Lots of words – but basically it makes three points: God adopts us; God redeems us; God unites us
We are given a purpose in life – to praise God
We should Praise God in everything
Dancing on the chips
A friend of mine tells a story of a day in her life. She had had a long week at work, and she was having friends over for the weekend. Of course on Saturday morning, she had a lot that needed to be done before her friends arrived. She went to the bank – and the teller made a mistake. She went to the store and realized that she had forgot half of what was on her list. She had 45 minutes to fix lunch for her friends. She thought of soup – but realized she had forgot milk. She thought of leftover bake beans only to see they had been in the refrigerator too long and had molded. She thought she would have potato chips and hot dogs. She went to open the bag of potato chips that she had just bought. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t open them, when she got them opened them, she did not realize that she opened the wrong side. All of the potato chips fell on the ground. That was the last straw. She started to scream and cry. Her husband immediately came in to see what was wrong. She expected that he would at least help her clean them up. Instead he laughed at her, and then started to dance on the chips – grinding them into her floor. All she could do was laugh – laugh at herself, laugh at the situation. She had expected her husband to clean up her mess and make it all better, instead, he have her the moment of gladness that broke her mood and helped her to take her day in stride and keep on going forward.
How many times in life does God do that for us. We are waiting for God to come in an clean things up and make things better, and instead God comes into our lives and dances. Giving us a moment to stop and to think about the important things in life, and to realize that messes come and go, but we have to take it all into perspective. And just dance along with the situation. And with God.
Our purpose is not only to be aware of the presence, but to also respond to it – to dance to the rhythm of life.
Life flows, life comes and goes, there are ups and downs. Seasons of life
Question to you – what dance do you do? Foxtrot, the moon walk Just dance Where is your ark of convenant – the presence of God to keep you centered? What is God’s purpose for your life?
Lee Ann Womacks song – I hope you dance is one of my favorite songs – because it reminds us to dance like full out, without no regard for who is watching or what they think, no matter what.
She says….I hope you never lose your sense of wonder You get your fill to eat But always keep that hunger May you never take one single breath for granted God forbid love ever leave you empty handed I hope you still feel small When you stand by the ocean Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance I hope you dance I hope you dance
Live, love, serve, cry, pray with all of your might.
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Is this Jesus' Hometown?
July 5, 2009
“Is this Jesus’ hometown?”
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Mark 6:1-13
Year B
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
William Willamon – difference between experienced traveler and a new traveler. When you first take a trip you pack all sorts of things, you take your time to pack and make sure you have everything you need and everything you think you will need. But you soon realize – that it really doesn’t matter what you take. You learn to travel lighter.
Jesus sends us all on a journey – faith is a journey
With this message – Jesus sends us all out on that journey with this message: Travel Light, Stick together, and trust the wonders of God.
Independence day – celebrate the freedom of our country.
Yet reminder that independence is dependendence. Part of the paradox of life.
There is no where that the bible says that God takes care of those who take care of themselves.
Bible reminds us that we need each other, that we are to help one another. The message is all about living in community.
But Jesus takes it one step further and calls us to be a witness – to tell people who don’t want to hear you – the power of God.
The key phrase to witnessing is that you are to talk to people who don’t want to hear what you have to say. And will go through great lengths to tell you so.
Jesus learned about that , when his faith journey called him to go home.
We have been following Jesus journey around Israel, he has done some great things – he healed a crippled man, he healed a woman who has been suffering all of her life, he even bought a young girl back to life.
He found that his greatest challenge was witnessing to those in his hometown. He walks in the synagogue and speaks with authority, helping them to understand the scripture. And instead of listening to what he has to say – all they can think of is who is this talking to him. Isnt this Mary’s son? What does he know?
Isnt this the carpenter’s family what does he know about spiritual issues?
For us, it would be like our local plumber – deciding to teach a philosophy class at the community college. What does he can he possibility teach us about philosophy, when he has not spent the time studying?
It turns out that Jesus had a lot to teach them and us about our faith. His whole message was to look beyond what we know, what we study, what we have learned to be true all of our lives.
Jesus went against the grain, and he taught us to do the same. Tradition is a wonderful thing – but it is also something the gets us comfortable with the way things are. When we see pain, and suffering and violence, we get comfortable and don’t say anything, because every one else is comfortable with it too.
It takes a special person, with a special authority to talk to us and tell us that we need to listen to life in a different way.
Jesus was training his disciples and us to go against the grain – that is what it means to witness- to get comfortable with telling people things that they really don’t want to hear. And to stay the course.
The is the foundation of our independence – to tell England things they didn’t want to hear – and to be prepared to fight to make a change.
The three gifts of success in that process
Stick together
Travel light
And to trust God that if you are doing the right thing you don’t need to defend yourself. Trust in God that if you work for what is right – look for the wonders on your journey.
Witnesses for Christ is never an easy thing. Paul has to defend himself in Corinthians.
There are people who are questioning Pauls ministry. They think they are so much better than Paul. They think they have a better relationship with God. Paul uses Jesus advice – and says that he knows that he is right, and that he has a relationship with God, and that he trust in God to take care of him as he is persecuted. God’s grace is sufficient to take care of anything.
Bishop Romero in El Salvoador was certainly a witness for justice in the 1980’s He spoke out against the government, telling them they were not being fair to their peasants. That they were unfairly killing and oppressing them. He found that the more he spoke out against the status quo – it seemed the less people were willing to stand with him. Eventually, one Sunday morning the government killed him – while celebrating mass. But his witness lives on even today – he is honored for his words of justice to a country who was not willing to hear.
We are all called to be witnesses – but my question to you is not about your witness – but about the times when you hear a hard truth – when someone tells you something you don’t want to hear – how do you respond? Do you think? Do you pray? Are you willing to change? Do yo speak out?
Or do you remain silent in order to maintain the status quo? Are you in the forfront or in the background? Where does your faith in Jesus call you to be?
The same thing that prevents us from listening to others – is often the same thing that prevents us from speaking out ourselves.
Jesus tells his disciples that if people don’t accept them –to shake the dust off your feet and move on. Jesus finds that he has to walk away from his hometown – and notes that he was not able to do a a lot of work. Jesus has worked miracles in other places healing and renewing, but was only able to do a little work in his hometown. So he moves on.
There are lots of majc in wonder in Jesus words, the power of god is an amazing thing. But is is not the majic that matters – it is the witness. Our willingness to listen and to speak what we know.
They say that when Jesus returned to heaven, he was questioned by the angels – they were looking at how he was treated , how he was crucified, how he was criciticized. They saw that work that he had done with the disciples, how he talked with them and how they seemed to not quite understand what was going on. They saw how Paul had been treated, how bishop romero had been killed, and saw that the world was a force to be reckoned with. And they were afraid. Take nothing for the journey, travel light and trust God- is that all that it took. They told Jesus that was a pretty good thought – but did he have a backup plan for spreading the good news of love to the world. Perhaps he shouldn’t put so much faith in humans – maybe he should have a back up plan, a group of miracles to make things better when people fail. Jesus told the angels there was no backup plan – just the teaching to those who believe in him – travel light, stick together, and trust God
Travel light, stick together, trust god to work miracles.- Jesus is depending on you to get that and to witness to the world. You are the Lord’s only hope. Amen.
“Is this Jesus’ hometown?”
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Mark 6:1-13
Year B
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
William Willamon – difference between experienced traveler and a new traveler. When you first take a trip you pack all sorts of things, you take your time to pack and make sure you have everything you need and everything you think you will need. But you soon realize – that it really doesn’t matter what you take. You learn to travel lighter.
Jesus sends us all on a journey – faith is a journey
With this message – Jesus sends us all out on that journey with this message: Travel Light, Stick together, and trust the wonders of God.
Independence day – celebrate the freedom of our country.
Yet reminder that independence is dependendence. Part of the paradox of life.
There is no where that the bible says that God takes care of those who take care of themselves.
Bible reminds us that we need each other, that we are to help one another. The message is all about living in community.
But Jesus takes it one step further and calls us to be a witness – to tell people who don’t want to hear you – the power of God.
The key phrase to witnessing is that you are to talk to people who don’t want to hear what you have to say. And will go through great lengths to tell you so.
Jesus learned about that , when his faith journey called him to go home.
We have been following Jesus journey around Israel, he has done some great things – he healed a crippled man, he healed a woman who has been suffering all of her life, he even bought a young girl back to life.
He found that his greatest challenge was witnessing to those in his hometown. He walks in the synagogue and speaks with authority, helping them to understand the scripture. And instead of listening to what he has to say – all they can think of is who is this talking to him. Isnt this Mary’s son? What does he know?
Isnt this the carpenter’s family what does he know about spiritual issues?
For us, it would be like our local plumber – deciding to teach a philosophy class at the community college. What does he can he possibility teach us about philosophy, when he has not spent the time studying?
It turns out that Jesus had a lot to teach them and us about our faith. His whole message was to look beyond what we know, what we study, what we have learned to be true all of our lives.
Jesus went against the grain, and he taught us to do the same. Tradition is a wonderful thing – but it is also something the gets us comfortable with the way things are. When we see pain, and suffering and violence, we get comfortable and don’t say anything, because every one else is comfortable with it too.
It takes a special person, with a special authority to talk to us and tell us that we need to listen to life in a different way.
Jesus was training his disciples and us to go against the grain – that is what it means to witness- to get comfortable with telling people things that they really don’t want to hear. And to stay the course.
The is the foundation of our independence – to tell England things they didn’t want to hear – and to be prepared to fight to make a change.
The three gifts of success in that process
Stick together
Travel light
And to trust God that if you are doing the right thing you don’t need to defend yourself. Trust in God that if you work for what is right – look for the wonders on your journey.
Witnesses for Christ is never an easy thing. Paul has to defend himself in Corinthians.
There are people who are questioning Pauls ministry. They think they are so much better than Paul. They think they have a better relationship with God. Paul uses Jesus advice – and says that he knows that he is right, and that he has a relationship with God, and that he trust in God to take care of him as he is persecuted. God’s grace is sufficient to take care of anything.
Bishop Romero in El Salvoador was certainly a witness for justice in the 1980’s He spoke out against the government, telling them they were not being fair to their peasants. That they were unfairly killing and oppressing them. He found that the more he spoke out against the status quo – it seemed the less people were willing to stand with him. Eventually, one Sunday morning the government killed him – while celebrating mass. But his witness lives on even today – he is honored for his words of justice to a country who was not willing to hear.
We are all called to be witnesses – but my question to you is not about your witness – but about the times when you hear a hard truth – when someone tells you something you don’t want to hear – how do you respond? Do you think? Do you pray? Are you willing to change? Do yo speak out?
Or do you remain silent in order to maintain the status quo? Are you in the forfront or in the background? Where does your faith in Jesus call you to be?
The same thing that prevents us from listening to others – is often the same thing that prevents us from speaking out ourselves.
Jesus tells his disciples that if people don’t accept them –to shake the dust off your feet and move on. Jesus finds that he has to walk away from his hometown – and notes that he was not able to do a a lot of work. Jesus has worked miracles in other places healing and renewing, but was only able to do a little work in his hometown. So he moves on.
There are lots of majc in wonder in Jesus words, the power of god is an amazing thing. But is is not the majic that matters – it is the witness. Our willingness to listen and to speak what we know.
They say that when Jesus returned to heaven, he was questioned by the angels – they were looking at how he was treated , how he was crucified, how he was criciticized. They saw that work that he had done with the disciples, how he talked with them and how they seemed to not quite understand what was going on. They saw how Paul had been treated, how bishop romero had been killed, and saw that the world was a force to be reckoned with. And they were afraid. Take nothing for the journey, travel light and trust God- is that all that it took. They told Jesus that was a pretty good thought – but did he have a backup plan for spreading the good news of love to the world. Perhaps he shouldn’t put so much faith in humans – maybe he should have a back up plan, a group of miracles to make things better when people fail. Jesus told the angels there was no backup plan – just the teaching to those who believe in him – travel light, stick together, and trust God
Travel light, stick together, trust god to work miracles.- Jesus is depending on you to get that and to witness to the world. You are the Lord’s only hope. Amen.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
What do you have to Give?
2 Corinthians 8:7-15
2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
4th Sunday after Pentecost
Year B
What do you have to Give?
The more things change, human nature does not change. The story of humanity is always the same story.
The headlines remind us that the fights in the holy land continue – character have changed, but the conflict stays the same.
David uses the words
The mighty have fallen – David uses those words about Saul and Jonathon. But it describes the events of today – death of many mighty. Ed Mcmahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson.
All who made great contributions to the culture, all very human. Have had their ups and downs in life, and their ups and downs in the media. And yet, no matter how great their contributions to life - the day will always come when they wil fall, and their life will end.
Many will grow tired of the stories that we will hear about Michael Jackson in the coming weeks to come. The autopsy results will not come out for six weeks. And we will go through this media attention for just as long. But It is the worlds way of mourning such a huge loss to the world. The only person in the world who has touched the entire world. No matter what we might have thought of him, we have to remember his contribution to us. That is the message David was giving to the world as he wrote this dirge acknowledging his former enemy, with the song of the bow.
I am struck with the way we remember people in death, different than what we hold against them in life. In life it would have been very difficult for Jackson to be portrayed in a positive light. Everything thing he did was wrong. But in death, we have put that all aside, and choose to remember the good things that he gave us.
David had a very rough time with Saul in reality. Jonathon his best friend, but Saul his worst enemy. Trying to kill him and is attacked and in exile.
Messenger thought bringing good news – but you killed the Lord’s anointed.
The story of David, is the story of his anointing. How he becomes King. Asked if it is really true – that events would pit them against one another, and David would win. David would rise and fall, make mistakes and become a hero.
But he remembers Saul and orders others to remember the greatness of Saul also
What does it mean to be anointed?
As we remember Michael Jackson, remember what he did for our culture and out time, and acknowledge that in his humanness he was called to be special. His presence made a difference to us all. Truly anointed – called himself the king of pop. Events of his death – a reminder that death comes to us all.
Reminder that life is a paradox – take the good with the bad. Paul talks about a thorn in his side – and we never know how it affects him, or how far he has to overcome it to do what he is called to do.
Important message on stewardhip – what it means to give. New testament concept of giving – is there is no amount of money that you have to give. But in how you give it.
Give out of what you have and not of what you don’t have. Giving is not intended to be a sacrifice – but a gift.
In spite of Paul’s suffering, he has a mission very close to his heart. He travels throughout the world – asking for money for widows in Jerusalem
A way to united the gentile Christians the jewish Christians. Show that we are in solidarity.
But he reminds those that the day will come that one day those in need will be able to give in return.
As he teaches churches the lessons of Christianity – his most important lesson is how they respond to giving.
Macadonians a small church like cornerstone – who did not have much money – but had a heart of gold and able to give to help.
Corinthian church a much larger church – an active dynamic church. You excel in everything you do – excel in this request. Excel in giving.
Reminded that what you have, intended to be used. The use of manna – everyone had enough for the day. Paul says that those who had much never had too much, and those who had little never had too little. They resources were just for the day and were balanced out and shared.
Our faith determined in the way we give to others.
Two brothers – There were two brothers who shared a room with each other. In the early years they shared everything. Each of them had free reign of everything that was there. They played with each other’s toys and got along perfectly. Until the day one of them got a play station for Christmas. And the brother decided that he didn’t want to share – it was his for his benefit. This started each of them as defining their property. And putting stipulations on using their stuff. At one time they got along, but this caused them to distrust one another and to constantly bicker. One day, they agreed to put a line down the middle of the room. And each were instructed to stay on their side of the room. Soon these two brothers became enamies, who not only refused to share, who not only fought constantly, but who eventually stopped speaking, and lived separate lives, even though they lived in the same room. They each were forced to fend for themselves, and faced life all alone. Both lost sight of what it meant to give and to help others.
The Christian faith means to be able to share what we have – so that we all can have just enough to live.
Pride as a church always judged by what we are able to give to others, not by anything else that we have accomplished. As a church, if we have not given to others, there is nothing that we have really accomplished.
There is a saying that we each have Two hands – one to give and one to receive. Like the two brothers, the Two are never intended to be independent of one another. Faith is one of balance – in this case Paul says to balance your abundance with those in need.
Read that Michael was one of the most altruistic stars of all times. Supported as many as 39 charities at one time. He went into the Guiness book of World Records as the star who has given more than any one else. Even in times of financial troubles, he still gave to others.
Teaches us it really doesn’t matter how much of how little you give. There is no set formula of how much to help others. Don’t have to go into bankrucpty to help others. Don’t have to go without, in order so that others will have. Give out of your heart.
Sharing with others changes the world, and is what we are called to do. If you can afford to share do so.
All in your attitude about what you have. About your attitude about your possessions. Did you earn them, or were they a gift from God. Was it given to you for your beneft, or was it given to you to empower you to benefit others.
Share with others, think of others, love others, serve others, help others, heal others.
That is the work of the Lord’s anointed – to make a difference in the world.
In the ends, it all goes back in the box. Even the anointed are human- and will experience the human fate. Only that in which we have given to others will outlive us.
2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
4th Sunday after Pentecost
Year B
What do you have to Give?
The more things change, human nature does not change. The story of humanity is always the same story.
The headlines remind us that the fights in the holy land continue – character have changed, but the conflict stays the same.
David uses the words
The mighty have fallen – David uses those words about Saul and Jonathon. But it describes the events of today – death of many mighty. Ed Mcmahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson.
All who made great contributions to the culture, all very human. Have had their ups and downs in life, and their ups and downs in the media. And yet, no matter how great their contributions to life - the day will always come when they wil fall, and their life will end.
Many will grow tired of the stories that we will hear about Michael Jackson in the coming weeks to come. The autopsy results will not come out for six weeks. And we will go through this media attention for just as long. But It is the worlds way of mourning such a huge loss to the world. The only person in the world who has touched the entire world. No matter what we might have thought of him, we have to remember his contribution to us. That is the message David was giving to the world as he wrote this dirge acknowledging his former enemy, with the song of the bow.
I am struck with the way we remember people in death, different than what we hold against them in life. In life it would have been very difficult for Jackson to be portrayed in a positive light. Everything thing he did was wrong. But in death, we have put that all aside, and choose to remember the good things that he gave us.
David had a very rough time with Saul in reality. Jonathon his best friend, but Saul his worst enemy. Trying to kill him and is attacked and in exile.
Messenger thought bringing good news – but you killed the Lord’s anointed.
The story of David, is the story of his anointing. How he becomes King. Asked if it is really true – that events would pit them against one another, and David would win. David would rise and fall, make mistakes and become a hero.
But he remembers Saul and orders others to remember the greatness of Saul also
What does it mean to be anointed?
As we remember Michael Jackson, remember what he did for our culture and out time, and acknowledge that in his humanness he was called to be special. His presence made a difference to us all. Truly anointed – called himself the king of pop. Events of his death – a reminder that death comes to us all.
Reminder that life is a paradox – take the good with the bad. Paul talks about a thorn in his side – and we never know how it affects him, or how far he has to overcome it to do what he is called to do.
Important message on stewardhip – what it means to give. New testament concept of giving – is there is no amount of money that you have to give. But in how you give it.
Give out of what you have and not of what you don’t have. Giving is not intended to be a sacrifice – but a gift.
In spite of Paul’s suffering, he has a mission very close to his heart. He travels throughout the world – asking for money for widows in Jerusalem
A way to united the gentile Christians the jewish Christians. Show that we are in solidarity.
But he reminds those that the day will come that one day those in need will be able to give in return.
As he teaches churches the lessons of Christianity – his most important lesson is how they respond to giving.
Macadonians a small church like cornerstone – who did not have much money – but had a heart of gold and able to give to help.
Corinthian church a much larger church – an active dynamic church. You excel in everything you do – excel in this request. Excel in giving.
Reminded that what you have, intended to be used. The use of manna – everyone had enough for the day. Paul says that those who had much never had too much, and those who had little never had too little. They resources were just for the day and were balanced out and shared.
Our faith determined in the way we give to others.
Two brothers – There were two brothers who shared a room with each other. In the early years they shared everything. Each of them had free reign of everything that was there. They played with each other’s toys and got along perfectly. Until the day one of them got a play station for Christmas. And the brother decided that he didn’t want to share – it was his for his benefit. This started each of them as defining their property. And putting stipulations on using their stuff. At one time they got along, but this caused them to distrust one another and to constantly bicker. One day, they agreed to put a line down the middle of the room. And each were instructed to stay on their side of the room. Soon these two brothers became enamies, who not only refused to share, who not only fought constantly, but who eventually stopped speaking, and lived separate lives, even though they lived in the same room. They each were forced to fend for themselves, and faced life all alone. Both lost sight of what it meant to give and to help others.
The Christian faith means to be able to share what we have – so that we all can have just enough to live.
Pride as a church always judged by what we are able to give to others, not by anything else that we have accomplished. As a church, if we have not given to others, there is nothing that we have really accomplished.
There is a saying that we each have Two hands – one to give and one to receive. Like the two brothers, the Two are never intended to be independent of one another. Faith is one of balance – in this case Paul says to balance your abundance with those in need.
Read that Michael was one of the most altruistic stars of all times. Supported as many as 39 charities at one time. He went into the Guiness book of World Records as the star who has given more than any one else. Even in times of financial troubles, he still gave to others.
Teaches us it really doesn’t matter how much of how little you give. There is no set formula of how much to help others. Don’t have to go into bankrucpty to help others. Don’t have to go without, in order so that others will have. Give out of your heart.
Sharing with others changes the world, and is what we are called to do. If you can afford to share do so.
All in your attitude about what you have. About your attitude about your possessions. Did you earn them, or were they a gift from God. Was it given to you for your beneft, or was it given to you to empower you to benefit others.
Share with others, think of others, love others, serve others, help others, heal others.
That is the work of the Lord’s anointed – to make a difference in the world.
In the ends, it all goes back in the box. Even the anointed are human- and will experience the human fate. Only that in which we have given to others will outlive us.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Big Daddy: Big problems, a big solution
June 21, 2009
Father’s Day
Bid Daddy: Big Solutions for a Big Problems
Year B
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Mark 4:34-43
Story of brave boy
Norman Ollestad grew up with a father
whom most of us would describe as unconventional at best,
maybe crazy at the worst.
Norman’s dad had involved him, as a little child,
in what we would now call “extreme sports.”
He surfed before he could walk,
and learned to downhill ski on slopes with names like “Avalanche.”
In 1979, Norman, who was 11 years old,
was a passenger in a private plane,
traveling with his father and his father’s girlfriend.
The pilot, unused to flying in the San Gabriel mountains,
and not rated for instrument flight,
crashed the plane into the side of a mountain.
Norman’s father and the pilot died instantly.
Sandra had a dislocated shoulder and was in extreme shock.
Norman coaxed Sandra into attempting to walk down the icy slope with him.
Sandra didn’t make it, but Norman did.
With only his wits and courage to hold on to,
Norman faced what may have been the biggest challenge of his life.
If he stayed on the mountain, he reasoned, he would die.
So he began to make his way down.
After hours spent inching down the slope,
around frozen waterfalls,
using toeholds in the rock face,
skirting icy chutes that would send him sliding to his death,
Norman made it down off the mountain, alone.
Norman’s memoir of his father is called Crazy for the Storm:
He says: “My father had cultivated this idea of trusting my instincts,
going through the exercise of being afraid,
fighting through the fear,
and then realizing that it worked –
you were better off than you thought.
It gave me a lot of self-confidence…
it wasn’t my first time facing fear and [a] seemingly indomitable situation.”
What troubles me about the story of Norman Ollestad, Jr.
is not that he was able to overcome his situation
because his father had repeatedly put him in challenging situations.
That is uplifting.
What troubles me is that he was there alone in the mountains
because of his dad’s failure to research or plan,
and because of his dad’s failure to learn
that the pilot was inexperienced and not instrument rated.
Norman Ollestad had to climb down off that mountain alone
because his father didn’t try to protect him in the first place.
A loving father doesn’t keep every challenge from a child,
but a loving father also does not put his children in danger.
I saw this story I think on Good Morning America. And was fascinated as the now adult held on to the lessons that his father taught him. His father was not perfect, their relationship was not perfect. And yet he used his story to shape his relationship with his son. He did not need to be so daring, but he needed to be present with his son to show him the lessons that he needed to learn, so that he did not have to learn them alone.
Story of Bill Hybels
Bill Hybels is the pastor of Willow Creek. He too fondly remembers the challenges of his dad. And credits who he is today to who his dad was. Even today, one of Rev. Hybels favorite pastimes is to go sailing. When he was a child, he had a sailboat and he would go out on the lake, his dad would always tell him to be careful and to never go out alone. Whenever he went out on the lake with a teenage friend, the lake was very rocky and scary. He would be nervous and glad to get back dry land. But when he went out with his dad, there was always a calm assurance that everything would be okay. His dad had survived, and could handle anything that would happen to him.
Lake Michigan is a very big lake. Fun to visit the beach on a calm day, but wouldn’t want to be in a sailboat in a storm. Especially if I could not see dry land.
We have the Great Lakes, Disciples had the see of Galliee. More like Lake Geneva at Wesley woods. But susceptible to great storms.
Disciples had Jesus with them
Jesus had encouraged the disciples to go out on the lake. Who knows, maybe it started out as a pretty mild day. Several boats started out on the lake. But soon there was a bad storm and they were no where near the shore.
Jesus was asleep and apparently unconcerned when all of this came to be. And even though the small boat tossed to and fro – he did not wake up. The poor disciples must have been fighting for their lives, and Jesus did nothing. They had to wake him up and let him know how bad things were.
I don’t know about you, but there are lot of times in my life where I feel that Jesus would be reacting to my problems, and I feel that I have to wake Jesus up and remind him of how bad things really are. And I have to remind Jesus that anytime he wants to step in and make things better that he certainly can do that.
Present with us – but not in our worry
The thing is, just like Jesus was there with the disciples. It was his idea that they take this trip in the first place. He was there all along. Which proves that Jesus is always with us wherever we are and whatever we do. Jesus is with us in our struggles, our suffering, our pain, our difficulties, our unanswered questions. But one place Jesus does not go with us is in our worrying. When has worrying about a problem ever given us any solutions. When had complaining about how bad things are made it any better. It didn’t help the disciples on the night of the storm and it doesn’t help us either. Fretting over the storm did not make it go away – so maybe there was a reason Jesus was able to sleep.
Offer words of wisdom – When he wakes up – all he says is Peace be still. Was he talking to the storm or was he talking to the disciples?
Story of struggling 2 year old - A father looked out the window at his 3 year old son playing in his sandbox. Playing for a while – but there was a huge rock in the middle of the sandbox, and the little boy wanted to get it out. He tugged and he pulled and exerted all of his energy, and the rock wouldn’t bulge. After more tugging, the boy sat down on the edge of the sandbox exhausted and frustrated. The father came out to talk with him, you tried everything you could the father said. You look pretty tired, did you use all of your energy to do all that you could. Frustrated –the boy confessed yes I did all that I could. I tried as hard as could to life that rock, and nothing seemed to work. Once again, the father asked if he had done all that he could. Yes the boy replied. Did you come and ask me for help?
Don’t tell God your problems, tell your problems about God.
A word of wisdom that I heard this week. Don’t waste your time telling God how big your problems are, tell your problems how big your God is. When we look at the world, when we look at our lives, even when we look at our church- we all know that we have some big problems. What makes them so big, is that we look at them and see that they are bigger then our solutions. Problems are not a bad thing as long as we have the means to deal with them. It is when we are overwhelmed, when we feel that there is nothing that we can do, when we feel that the problem is going to get the best of us – that it becomes a big problem. And we sit at the edge of the sandbox, and put our heads in our hands and declare that there is nothing that we can do, and we start to do nothing. We stop responding - That the problem becomes big.
Word of wisdom for us – we get caught up in our problems start to think there is no solution, no one cares. When we stop responding. The ultimate atheism – is that God does not care about me. Our first response Don’t you care?
The next step to not responding to the problem is to assume that God does not care about us or about the world. Obviously if there was something that God could do, it would have been done. Or like the disciples, we start to assume that we are not important enough for God to care. We stop praying to God, we stop expecting God to act in our lives. That is the true definition of an atheist. Not someone who doesn’t believe in God. But someone who believes that it does not matter whether there is a God or not – because it does not change the situation. When in reality – God is always there, God is always present, God always cares. But sometimes we have to wake God up. We have to wake God up within our own souls – to know God is with us, but God does not join us in worrying about the big problems of the world. Worrying does not change a thing. But faith does.
Question back to you – where is your faith
The disciples asked Jesus don’t you care about us. Jesus asked the disciples why are you afraid? Have you still no faith? What about you? Where is your faith? Stuck in big problems, or imbedded in an even bigger God?
Questions in response – who is this that even the wind and the elements obey? In the end, the disciples saw the power of God at work. The storm ended, and they asked who is this that even the wind and the rain obey? A pretty big God.
A very big God – able to care and handle it all. Look for the signs and look for the words of Peace. When Jesus says, Peace be still was he talking to the storm, or to the hearts of the disciples? When Jesus says those words of wisdom to us, is he talking to our big problems, or our big faith, or both? Listen to those words of wisdom in your life this week. Let us Pray….
Father’s Day
Bid Daddy: Big Solutions for a Big Problems
Year B
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Mark 4:34-43
Story of brave boy
Norman Ollestad grew up with a father
whom most of us would describe as unconventional at best,
maybe crazy at the worst.
Norman’s dad had involved him, as a little child,
in what we would now call “extreme sports.”
He surfed before he could walk,
and learned to downhill ski on slopes with names like “Avalanche.”
In 1979, Norman, who was 11 years old,
was a passenger in a private plane,
traveling with his father and his father’s girlfriend.
The pilot, unused to flying in the San Gabriel mountains,
and not rated for instrument flight,
crashed the plane into the side of a mountain.
Norman’s father and the pilot died instantly.
Sandra had a dislocated shoulder and was in extreme shock.
Norman coaxed Sandra into attempting to walk down the icy slope with him.
Sandra didn’t make it, but Norman did.
With only his wits and courage to hold on to,
Norman faced what may have been the biggest challenge of his life.
If he stayed on the mountain, he reasoned, he would die.
So he began to make his way down.
After hours spent inching down the slope,
around frozen waterfalls,
using toeholds in the rock face,
skirting icy chutes that would send him sliding to his death,
Norman made it down off the mountain, alone.
Norman’s memoir of his father is called Crazy for the Storm:
He says: “My father had cultivated this idea of trusting my instincts,
going through the exercise of being afraid,
fighting through the fear,
and then realizing that it worked –
you were better off than you thought.
It gave me a lot of self-confidence…
it wasn’t my first time facing fear and [a] seemingly indomitable situation.”
What troubles me about the story of Norman Ollestad, Jr.
is not that he was able to overcome his situation
because his father had repeatedly put him in challenging situations.
That is uplifting.
What troubles me is that he was there alone in the mountains
because of his dad’s failure to research or plan,
and because of his dad’s failure to learn
that the pilot was inexperienced and not instrument rated.
Norman Ollestad had to climb down off that mountain alone
because his father didn’t try to protect him in the first place.
A loving father doesn’t keep every challenge from a child,
but a loving father also does not put his children in danger.
I saw this story I think on Good Morning America. And was fascinated as the now adult held on to the lessons that his father taught him. His father was not perfect, their relationship was not perfect. And yet he used his story to shape his relationship with his son. He did not need to be so daring, but he needed to be present with his son to show him the lessons that he needed to learn, so that he did not have to learn them alone.
Story of Bill Hybels
Bill Hybels is the pastor of Willow Creek. He too fondly remembers the challenges of his dad. And credits who he is today to who his dad was. Even today, one of Rev. Hybels favorite pastimes is to go sailing. When he was a child, he had a sailboat and he would go out on the lake, his dad would always tell him to be careful and to never go out alone. Whenever he went out on the lake with a teenage friend, the lake was very rocky and scary. He would be nervous and glad to get back dry land. But when he went out with his dad, there was always a calm assurance that everything would be okay. His dad had survived, and could handle anything that would happen to him.
Lake Michigan is a very big lake. Fun to visit the beach on a calm day, but wouldn’t want to be in a sailboat in a storm. Especially if I could not see dry land.
We have the Great Lakes, Disciples had the see of Galliee. More like Lake Geneva at Wesley woods. But susceptible to great storms.
Disciples had Jesus with them
Jesus had encouraged the disciples to go out on the lake. Who knows, maybe it started out as a pretty mild day. Several boats started out on the lake. But soon there was a bad storm and they were no where near the shore.
Jesus was asleep and apparently unconcerned when all of this came to be. And even though the small boat tossed to and fro – he did not wake up. The poor disciples must have been fighting for their lives, and Jesus did nothing. They had to wake him up and let him know how bad things were.
I don’t know about you, but there are lot of times in my life where I feel that Jesus would be reacting to my problems, and I feel that I have to wake Jesus up and remind him of how bad things really are. And I have to remind Jesus that anytime he wants to step in and make things better that he certainly can do that.
Present with us – but not in our worry
The thing is, just like Jesus was there with the disciples. It was his idea that they take this trip in the first place. He was there all along. Which proves that Jesus is always with us wherever we are and whatever we do. Jesus is with us in our struggles, our suffering, our pain, our difficulties, our unanswered questions. But one place Jesus does not go with us is in our worrying. When has worrying about a problem ever given us any solutions. When had complaining about how bad things are made it any better. It didn’t help the disciples on the night of the storm and it doesn’t help us either. Fretting over the storm did not make it go away – so maybe there was a reason Jesus was able to sleep.
Offer words of wisdom – When he wakes up – all he says is Peace be still. Was he talking to the storm or was he talking to the disciples?
Story of struggling 2 year old - A father looked out the window at his 3 year old son playing in his sandbox. Playing for a while – but there was a huge rock in the middle of the sandbox, and the little boy wanted to get it out. He tugged and he pulled and exerted all of his energy, and the rock wouldn’t bulge. After more tugging, the boy sat down on the edge of the sandbox exhausted and frustrated. The father came out to talk with him, you tried everything you could the father said. You look pretty tired, did you use all of your energy to do all that you could. Frustrated –the boy confessed yes I did all that I could. I tried as hard as could to life that rock, and nothing seemed to work. Once again, the father asked if he had done all that he could. Yes the boy replied. Did you come and ask me for help?
Don’t tell God your problems, tell your problems about God.
A word of wisdom that I heard this week. Don’t waste your time telling God how big your problems are, tell your problems how big your God is. When we look at the world, when we look at our lives, even when we look at our church- we all know that we have some big problems. What makes them so big, is that we look at them and see that they are bigger then our solutions. Problems are not a bad thing as long as we have the means to deal with them. It is when we are overwhelmed, when we feel that there is nothing that we can do, when we feel that the problem is going to get the best of us – that it becomes a big problem. And we sit at the edge of the sandbox, and put our heads in our hands and declare that there is nothing that we can do, and we start to do nothing. We stop responding - That the problem becomes big.
Word of wisdom for us – we get caught up in our problems start to think there is no solution, no one cares. When we stop responding. The ultimate atheism – is that God does not care about me. Our first response Don’t you care?
The next step to not responding to the problem is to assume that God does not care about us or about the world. Obviously if there was something that God could do, it would have been done. Or like the disciples, we start to assume that we are not important enough for God to care. We stop praying to God, we stop expecting God to act in our lives. That is the true definition of an atheist. Not someone who doesn’t believe in God. But someone who believes that it does not matter whether there is a God or not – because it does not change the situation. When in reality – God is always there, God is always present, God always cares. But sometimes we have to wake God up. We have to wake God up within our own souls – to know God is with us, but God does not join us in worrying about the big problems of the world. Worrying does not change a thing. But faith does.
Question back to you – where is your faith
The disciples asked Jesus don’t you care about us. Jesus asked the disciples why are you afraid? Have you still no faith? What about you? Where is your faith? Stuck in big problems, or imbedded in an even bigger God?
Questions in response – who is this that even the wind and the elements obey? In the end, the disciples saw the power of God at work. The storm ended, and they asked who is this that even the wind and the rain obey? A pretty big God.
A very big God – able to care and handle it all. Look for the signs and look for the words of Peace. When Jesus says, Peace be still was he talking to the storm, or to the hearts of the disciples? When Jesus says those words of wisdom to us, is he talking to our big problems, or our big faith, or both? Listen to those words of wisdom in your life this week. Let us Pray….
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Weed or flower
June 14, 2009
“A Weed or a Flower”
1 Samuel 15
Mark 4:26-34
Year B
Second Sunday After Pentecost
Easter Flowers – Lillies, hyacinths, azaleas. Our sanctuary was filled with the lovely aroma of all of these special easter flowers. They all have a story of resurrections, and they remind us that the world is ,coming a live again.
But there is another easter flower that outshines them all - The most prolific Easter Flower – the dandelion
The qualities of the dandelion – the dandelion grows everywhere. It is strong it is hearty and it grows everywhere. Once lady talked about how she needed to get them out of her year, before her neighbor complained. They grew so abundantly.
Is it a weed or a flower?
God created both with a purpose
The point Jesus was trying to make when he tells the story of the mustard seed
The uses of mustard today – today we use mustard as a condiment, and so we think of it as a food.
But in Jesus’ time the mustard plant would have been a weed. He uses it as an example of faith.
Would not have grown into a tree, and is not the smallest seed in the world. And you cant do a whole lot with them.
The reality is that they are a nuisance. Once you plant them you cant get rid of them. They are everywhere. And the more you try to unplant them, the more they seem to appear.
His audience would have been laughing at him, or laughing with him as he talked about mustard. You don’t really need to spend a whole lot of time planting them, they can take caer of themselves.
The good news is that God does not call us to be mustard plants – a weed. Even though all weeds are plants of God and thus have a purpose.
He calls us to have the faith of a mustard seed. To realize that we are the beginnings of something big. Something prolific at least.
Mustard plants are the plants of God. They don’t grow themselves. And they do not grow according to human care. When the seeds are planted – God does the rest of the work to make them grow.
We are not called to make anything happen, to make anything grow. To just plant the seeds with our faith. To walk away and to see what happens.
When we see situations that are impossible, we have no idea of why God is telling us to plant the seeds. We just do as we are told. God sees differently then we do.
God instructed Samuel to go to Bethlehem to look for a new king for Israel. He took his oil and his sacrifice and he went to the house of Jesse. Jesse had lots of hardworking, strong capable sons. Samuel was sure that the oldest, the strongest, would be God’s pick for King.
Yet God reminded Samuel that even though he sees the outward appearance, God sees the inside. The heart. God had picked the youngest son, David to be the new king of Israel. Samuel anointed him.
But one thing that I did not realize about this story was that this did not happen immediately. It took years for David to grow up, and for the turn of events to make things happen.
And yet from that moment forward, he knew that God was working his destiny out for him. And that if God anointed him King, one day it would happen.
He had the faith of the mustard seed that one day – he would do prolific things. But in God’s time and at Gods will.
That is the lesson for us- we spend so much of our lives waiting for results. Waiting for things to happen. Waiting for proof that our efforts are not in vain. Waiting to see that someone our work is making a difference. Waiting for our destiny.
And God has to send events and people to remind us – that we are not in control. We can plant seeds all day – but we cant make them grow. We have to wait on God to do that. Furthermore, we are not encouraged to plant easter flowers, which have to be cared for- and nurtured, and watered, and babyed. They are pretty to look at, and they satisfy our need to think that God needs us. We are planting mustard seeds, like dandelions – which once planted take on a life of their own. Or more precisely god takes care of them better than we ever could. They grow strong and hearty and spread the message of God’s love everywhere – you cant stop them once they get started.
We never know what we are starting – just start it anyway.
There once was a man – who forgot to kiss his wife goodbye – he was in such a hurry. Yet his wife noticed and felt slighted. She went and yelled at her son who was getting ready for school – that his shirt was wrinkled. When his sister came down for breakfast – he yelled at her. She went outside and kicked the dog – just for being him. This family was in turmoil, starting off to have a bad day, and no one seemed to know why and no one seemed able to do anything about it. They were mad, because someone had shown them anger. And they unknowingly passed it on to others. – It is sort of like the world we live in – where we live in a state of consequences and actions in which we have no control. But after being kicked, he dog came up to the little girl and showed her an act of kindness – he licked her nose. That changed her whole day and her whole outlook on life. She went and volunteered to help her brother iron his shirt and get ready for school. They both remembered to kiss their mom good bye as they went off to school to help a younger child get on the school bus. The mom felt better, and vowed to do something nice for her family. When her husband came home she greeted him with a big kiss. And asked him how his day went. The father – with no thought of how his actions affected his family. Went on with his daily routine, but announced to his family that he was taking them to Disney world next week. The whole family changed – just because the dog licked the nose of the little girl. One small act, one mustard seed planted. One soul willing to not get caught in in the way the circumstances were, but in what could be done in the moment to make a difference. And it made a difference. A very subtle difference in the life of this family.
It is okay for us to do big things – but Jesus encourages us to plant mustard seeds. Plant little things in which God can use and turn into weeds. Things prolific enough to take on a life of God’s amazing growth.
In time, God’s time – our actions will change to circumstance – and eventually change the world in ways that we cannot imagine.
Amen.
“A Weed or a Flower”
1 Samuel 15
Mark 4:26-34
Year B
Second Sunday After Pentecost
Easter Flowers – Lillies, hyacinths, azaleas. Our sanctuary was filled with the lovely aroma of all of these special easter flowers. They all have a story of resurrections, and they remind us that the world is ,coming a live again.
But there is another easter flower that outshines them all - The most prolific Easter Flower – the dandelion
The qualities of the dandelion – the dandelion grows everywhere. It is strong it is hearty and it grows everywhere. Once lady talked about how she needed to get them out of her year, before her neighbor complained. They grew so abundantly.
Is it a weed or a flower?
God created both with a purpose
The point Jesus was trying to make when he tells the story of the mustard seed
The uses of mustard today – today we use mustard as a condiment, and so we think of it as a food.
But in Jesus’ time the mustard plant would have been a weed. He uses it as an example of faith.
Would not have grown into a tree, and is not the smallest seed in the world. And you cant do a whole lot with them.
The reality is that they are a nuisance. Once you plant them you cant get rid of them. They are everywhere. And the more you try to unplant them, the more they seem to appear.
His audience would have been laughing at him, or laughing with him as he talked about mustard. You don’t really need to spend a whole lot of time planting them, they can take caer of themselves.
The good news is that God does not call us to be mustard plants – a weed. Even though all weeds are plants of God and thus have a purpose.
He calls us to have the faith of a mustard seed. To realize that we are the beginnings of something big. Something prolific at least.
Mustard plants are the plants of God. They don’t grow themselves. And they do not grow according to human care. When the seeds are planted – God does the rest of the work to make them grow.
We are not called to make anything happen, to make anything grow. To just plant the seeds with our faith. To walk away and to see what happens.
When we see situations that are impossible, we have no idea of why God is telling us to plant the seeds. We just do as we are told. God sees differently then we do.
God instructed Samuel to go to Bethlehem to look for a new king for Israel. He took his oil and his sacrifice and he went to the house of Jesse. Jesse had lots of hardworking, strong capable sons. Samuel was sure that the oldest, the strongest, would be God’s pick for King.
Yet God reminded Samuel that even though he sees the outward appearance, God sees the inside. The heart. God had picked the youngest son, David to be the new king of Israel. Samuel anointed him.
But one thing that I did not realize about this story was that this did not happen immediately. It took years for David to grow up, and for the turn of events to make things happen.
And yet from that moment forward, he knew that God was working his destiny out for him. And that if God anointed him King, one day it would happen.
He had the faith of the mustard seed that one day – he would do prolific things. But in God’s time and at Gods will.
That is the lesson for us- we spend so much of our lives waiting for results. Waiting for things to happen. Waiting for proof that our efforts are not in vain. Waiting to see that someone our work is making a difference. Waiting for our destiny.
And God has to send events and people to remind us – that we are not in control. We can plant seeds all day – but we cant make them grow. We have to wait on God to do that. Furthermore, we are not encouraged to plant easter flowers, which have to be cared for- and nurtured, and watered, and babyed. They are pretty to look at, and they satisfy our need to think that God needs us. We are planting mustard seeds, like dandelions – which once planted take on a life of their own. Or more precisely god takes care of them better than we ever could. They grow strong and hearty and spread the message of God’s love everywhere – you cant stop them once they get started.
We never know what we are starting – just start it anyway.
There once was a man – who forgot to kiss his wife goodbye – he was in such a hurry. Yet his wife noticed and felt slighted. She went and yelled at her son who was getting ready for school – that his shirt was wrinkled. When his sister came down for breakfast – he yelled at her. She went outside and kicked the dog – just for being him. This family was in turmoil, starting off to have a bad day, and no one seemed to know why and no one seemed able to do anything about it. They were mad, because someone had shown them anger. And they unknowingly passed it on to others. – It is sort of like the world we live in – where we live in a state of consequences and actions in which we have no control. But after being kicked, he dog came up to the little girl and showed her an act of kindness – he licked her nose. That changed her whole day and her whole outlook on life. She went and volunteered to help her brother iron his shirt and get ready for school. They both remembered to kiss their mom good bye as they went off to school to help a younger child get on the school bus. The mom felt better, and vowed to do something nice for her family. When her husband came home she greeted him with a big kiss. And asked him how his day went. The father – with no thought of how his actions affected his family. Went on with his daily routine, but announced to his family that he was taking them to Disney world next week. The whole family changed – just because the dog licked the nose of the little girl. One small act, one mustard seed planted. One soul willing to not get caught in in the way the circumstances were, but in what could be done in the moment to make a difference. And it made a difference. A very subtle difference in the life of this family.
It is okay for us to do big things – but Jesus encourages us to plant mustard seeds. Plant little things in which God can use and turn into weeds. Things prolific enough to take on a life of God’s amazing growth.
In time, God’s time – our actions will change to circumstance – and eventually change the world in ways that we cannot imagine.
Amen.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Wind, Fire and Words
May 31, 2009
Wind, Fire and Words
Acts 2
Romans 8
Year B
Pentecost
what images do they think of when an insight suddenly strikes You? Some will say a light bulb coming on. Or an electric shock.
Perhaps a billboard, a text message, a whack on the head...
But none of us would think of tongues of fire, or gusts of wind.
These are the images for the story of Pentecost.
The Pentecost story is clearly metaphorical an image. The biblical text
itself says, _like_ a mighty wind; tongues _as of_ fire...
Metaphor is like the sacraments – defined by Augustine of Hippo as
"a visible sign of an invisible reality." Tragically, our society has lost its
sense of the metaphoric. We distrust metaphors and analogies. We expect facts.
Yet we still speak of getting fired up. Burning with passion.
Suffering burnout. We refer to spirited horses, team spirit, blowing out the
cobwebs, feeling a fresh wind, a storm of change...
Those are all metaphors – a way of expressing something that would
otherwise be inexpressible. Because the Holy Spirit was not a thing, to be
measured and dissected. It was a feeling, an attitude.
For the early church, it was a realization that what they had been waiting for all along had finally come to them.
Research says that in the year of the Pentecost, this was the first year that many of the jews who had been in exile were first able to come to Jerusalem for the celebration of the gift of the word of God. They came from Meds, Pamphlyia, Cappodicia – places all over the middle east. They came speaking their own languages, and abiding by their own customs. But some how they all got along, they all understood one another, they all witness the same heavenly event, the presence of the holy spirit.
That is the gift of the holy spirit – unity where there is no unity. It was the beginning of the work of the church.
Like all gifts of the church, this story means different things to different people and traditions. For instance, for some the gift was speaking in tongues, for others it was the gift of speaking in different languages and being able to be heard. But the main point was that they knew that God was with them in a very special way. They did not have the words to describe it, but they had the hearts to feel it.
As a matter of fact, sometimes I think it is our words that get us in trouble. We can speak the same language, and sometimes not be understood. Because even though we use the same words- they don’t mean the same thing.
Sometimes it is words that makes thing worse. One Christian remembers the time she was looking for a parking space, she waited patiently for this couple to leave, and it seemed that a van pulled up in front of her out of nowhere, and took the space. She had a few words for the driver of the van and none of them nice. The van driver was so sorry that he pulled out and gave her the space. At first proud, she had to go home to pray to God. Her words totally betrayed whom she was as a Christian.
That is the point of the babel story – that a group got together for a common cause. They went into the project speaking the same language. They finished speaking different languages and accomplishing nothing.
Imagine how much chaos is present in the world because people misunderstand one another. Sometimes the best way to create an argument is to use words. The more you talk , the more you realize that there is disagreement.
Karl Barth says always preach the gospel sometimes even use words – but more importantly use who are you in Christ.
Romans states that the whole world is in birth pains. I feel that there seems to be chaos on every level of life. Everyone is hurting, and everyone is lashing out. And no one seems to understand what is really going on. Yet we are to hope – hope for things that we cannot see. And not worry if we have the right words to say- to just make sure that we trust in the spirit – who will interpret everything we say. The bible has been interpreted in ever language in the world. In one African village, they were looking for a word for the holy spirit – until the noticed that whenever a group had to carry a heavy load – there was always one man who went with them, but carried nothing himself. They explained that when someone gave out from exhaustion, this was the man who always took his place, so that the journey could continue.
They had their word for the holy spirit - the one who carries our burdens to God for us, when we are too weak to travel. The one who prays on our behalf.
In our obsession with the concrete, we’ve even made the Holy Spirit
a noun. We capitalize it, like a proper name. But in truth, it was more like a
verb – just as “faith” in Hebrew, mn, was a verb, best translated as “to
trust.”
Likewise, God does not describe godself as a noun, as a static thing, but as a verb, to moses God said not I am who I am, But I will be, who I will be. The spirit of God is always on the move in the world, making a difference.
Our greatest witness to the presence of God is to move in a static world. To be who we are and not to get caught up in definitions of who we were just yesterday.
The greatest image of the holy spirit for the world today in chaos in pain, are the be the people who trust in God. No words needed, just our hearts.
Wind, Fire and Words
Acts 2
Romans 8
Year B
Pentecost
what images do they think of when an insight suddenly strikes You? Some will say a light bulb coming on. Or an electric shock.
Perhaps a billboard, a text message, a whack on the head...
But none of us would think of tongues of fire, or gusts of wind.
These are the images for the story of Pentecost.
The Pentecost story is clearly metaphorical an image. The biblical text
itself says, _like_ a mighty wind; tongues _as of_ fire...
Metaphor is like the sacraments – defined by Augustine of Hippo as
"a visible sign of an invisible reality." Tragically, our society has lost its
sense of the metaphoric. We distrust metaphors and analogies. We expect facts.
Yet we still speak of getting fired up. Burning with passion.
Suffering burnout. We refer to spirited horses, team spirit, blowing out the
cobwebs, feeling a fresh wind, a storm of change...
Those are all metaphors – a way of expressing something that would
otherwise be inexpressible. Because the Holy Spirit was not a thing, to be
measured and dissected. It was a feeling, an attitude.
For the early church, it was a realization that what they had been waiting for all along had finally come to them.
Research says that in the year of the Pentecost, this was the first year that many of the jews who had been in exile were first able to come to Jerusalem for the celebration of the gift of the word of God. They came from Meds, Pamphlyia, Cappodicia – places all over the middle east. They came speaking their own languages, and abiding by their own customs. But some how they all got along, they all understood one another, they all witness the same heavenly event, the presence of the holy spirit.
That is the gift of the holy spirit – unity where there is no unity. It was the beginning of the work of the church.
Like all gifts of the church, this story means different things to different people and traditions. For instance, for some the gift was speaking in tongues, for others it was the gift of speaking in different languages and being able to be heard. But the main point was that they knew that God was with them in a very special way. They did not have the words to describe it, but they had the hearts to feel it.
As a matter of fact, sometimes I think it is our words that get us in trouble. We can speak the same language, and sometimes not be understood. Because even though we use the same words- they don’t mean the same thing.
Sometimes it is words that makes thing worse. One Christian remembers the time she was looking for a parking space, she waited patiently for this couple to leave, and it seemed that a van pulled up in front of her out of nowhere, and took the space. She had a few words for the driver of the van and none of them nice. The van driver was so sorry that he pulled out and gave her the space. At first proud, she had to go home to pray to God. Her words totally betrayed whom she was as a Christian.
That is the point of the babel story – that a group got together for a common cause. They went into the project speaking the same language. They finished speaking different languages and accomplishing nothing.
Imagine how much chaos is present in the world because people misunderstand one another. Sometimes the best way to create an argument is to use words. The more you talk , the more you realize that there is disagreement.
Karl Barth says always preach the gospel sometimes even use words – but more importantly use who are you in Christ.
Romans states that the whole world is in birth pains. I feel that there seems to be chaos on every level of life. Everyone is hurting, and everyone is lashing out. And no one seems to understand what is really going on. Yet we are to hope – hope for things that we cannot see. And not worry if we have the right words to say- to just make sure that we trust in the spirit – who will interpret everything we say. The bible has been interpreted in ever language in the world. In one African village, they were looking for a word for the holy spirit – until the noticed that whenever a group had to carry a heavy load – there was always one man who went with them, but carried nothing himself. They explained that when someone gave out from exhaustion, this was the man who always took his place, so that the journey could continue.
They had their word for the holy spirit - the one who carries our burdens to God for us, when we are too weak to travel. The one who prays on our behalf.
In our obsession with the concrete, we’ve even made the Holy Spirit
a noun. We capitalize it, like a proper name. But in truth, it was more like a
verb – just as “faith” in Hebrew, mn, was a verb, best translated as “to
trust.”
Likewise, God does not describe godself as a noun, as a static thing, but as a verb, to moses God said not I am who I am, But I will be, who I will be. The spirit of God is always on the move in the world, making a difference.
Our greatest witness to the presence of God is to move in a static world. To be who we are and not to get caught up in definitions of who we were just yesterday.
The greatest image of the holy spirit for the world today in chaos in pain, are the be the people who trust in God. No words needed, just our hearts.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Have You Seen Joan
May 24, 2009
Year B
Ephesians 1:15-23
Luke 24: 44-53
For Ascension Sunday
Repreach of “Have You Seen Joan?”
It has been about 19 years ago now. I was a senior at Northwestern University. I had started out in the journalism program, one of the best in the country. Yet it seemed that school was not fulfilling for me. When I looked at my grades, I knew that I could do much better than I was doing. I was at a period of questioning in my life, I was searching for meaning. This had been a very busy time in my life, a lot was going on. In my search for answers, I had even changed my major to religion. But things were still not right, I was still not happy.
I had one quarter left before I would graduate. And looking into the darkness of the future, I had no idea of what I was going to do next. More importantly, I did not have the energy to find out. I was tired of working to pay my tuition, tired of having papers to write, and frankly, just plain tired of dealing with the red tape of life. So, on the day that I had to move out of my rented room for the summer, instead of registering for my last quarter of school, I put my things in storage and checked into a homeless shelter.
The shelter in Evanston had room for 30 people. 25 men and 5 women. This was a shelter for adults, so most women would have to go somewhere with their children. So usually, not all of the women’s beds were filled. We were allowed to stay for three months as long as we followed the rules. We had to check into the shelter every night by 10:30 pm. There was no drinking, smoking or fighting with the other guest. And you had to be ready to leave the shelter by 7 in the morning. We called the shelter, Hilda’s place after the director.
I must have been there about a month and a half, when Joan moved in. She was from Milwaukee. She was 34 years old, with 2 children. As I got to know her, I learned that she had some mental issues, as well as being addicted to cocaine and alcohol
When we would come into the shelter and try to get to know one another, the first question that you would be asked, was so what is your sad story. There was always some sad reason that we were there. Joan was a journalist, very intelligent and very articulate. She lived a very happy life with her two children in their own house. As her life unraveled, she lost everything, and ended up in Chicago.
After three months, Joan and I were given a transitional apartment. We could live for free, but we have to save up our money to be able to make a deposit on an apartment.
During this time, I went on with my daily activities. But I felt that I had gained a whole new perspective on life. Today, we hear and talk a lot about homelessness. And we have an image of who homeless people are and how we should deal with them.
I listened to a lot of conversations on homelessness, and how we as a society should deal with it. Perhaps, if we had enough jobs, or enough people to help, everyone would have a place to go. Or perhaps is we could just raise the self esteem of people and teach them a better way of life, everything would be okay.
But the explanations that we make up, don’t always fit the reality of the people and their stories. There were a lot of times when I felt that I was an alien, listening to the thoughts of others, and just not understanding.
For instance, I remember listening to a speech of a man who was in tears, because he had met a women sitting on a park bench crying. He made up a whole story about the women, and felt so guilty that he never bothered to help her. I remember being so frustrated because I could not help but to wonder why he would just assume she was homeless. Why didn’t he just speak to the woman to say hello, instead of making up a story about her. Like many people, he was willing to feel guilty about doing something big, but he was not even willing to relate to the woman.
And there was the time when I was in the Northwestern library, and a classmate of mine, Heather, had organized a canned food drive for the homeless. I told her that was a nice guesture, but most of the homeless people that I knew did not have can openers in their pockets. And most of us were not as resourceful as Joan, who one day borrowed a hot plate, and cooked her can of soup right there on the street.
I feel that it is important to tell my story, because we get caught up on our impressions. So we give to causes in hopes that they are making a difference. But what is it really that we are giving people and why?
As I said, my roommate Joan was a journalist. So one of the first things that she did when she came to Chicago, was to ask the Chicago Tribune if she could write a story about homelessness. One the night before she had to turn the story in, we talked about it. Her words have stuck with me all of this time. In her interviewing other people in the shelter, she realized that if they were to shut the shelter down and tell us all to go home. Not one of us would be at a lost of where to go. We all had families, and a place to go. Yet there was always a reason that people felt alienated from their families.
Joan went on to note that the search for a homeless shelter is not really a search for a physical bed, or food or clothing. People on the tramp trail (as living in shelters is affectionately called) are really on a spiritual journey. They are in search for a spiritual bed, spiritual covering, and spiritual food.
I was not born a Methodist. The seeds of my decision to devote my life to the Methodist church began in the help that I received during that time in my life. The mystery of God was not in the physical help that I received, it was in the grace that I felt for the first time in my life. I didn’t have to earn my keep, or answer any questions. I was just taken care of.
One day a Methodist minister brought his campus ministry group to worship with us in the shelter. Afterwards, Jack came up to me and told me that I appeared to be such a happy person. I think it was the reflection of the purple sweatshirt that I had on. People have told me that purple makes me glow. Because happy is not a verb that I would ever use to describe myself. But the interesting thing is, that after he said that - I didn’t need to live that life anymore. I joined his campus ministry, went back to school and went on the seminary. All because of one word of kindness from a stranger.
I often wondered if the people who volunteered to help us realized that people go to homeless shelters in search of the same things that people who haven’t lost their patience with society would go to church.
As members of the shelter grew together and shared our stories, they were not stories of houses burning down, or robbers taking everything. They were stories of significant relationships breaking down. They were stories of marriages falling apart, or of alienation from parents, or dealing with the death of a loved one. Even today, when I talk with people who ask for money- I always ask about their family. And I always find some type of alienation.
Some people can get their spiritual fulfillment by going to work or spending time in community. But when they cant find community, many people seek the tramp trail. It is called a trail, because people go from shelter to shelter, church to church telling their sad story over and over again. And once you start to get responses to your story – you get accustomed to that lifestyle. You get accustomed to getting taking care of.
Which is why I am not comfortable with our approaches to homelessness. After awhile, it starts to enable to behavior that it tries to address. Even the walk in ministry here in Oak Park talks about ways to empower those who ask for help, to change their lifestyles in order to needing the services. It is important to give to those in need, but until the spiritual issues are addressed, nothing will ever change.
There were many times in my stay with Joan, where I wondered if I would ever get out of that situation alive. There were many times when she threatened me. There were times when she didn’t say anything, I just woke up with the gas from the stove turned on. My prayer to God was that if I ever got out of the situation alive, my mission would not be to the homeless people I lived with, but with the nice church people that helped me.
I will never forget the first day I went to the community dinner at First Presbyterian Church. The people were so proud that they had given me a meal. Yet I was concerned that this was the worst day of my life. A day when I was totally confused, and had no answers of what was happening and what to do. And yet no one talked to me, no one said anything about their faith, their call to help me.
I wanted to give those nice church people one message – that in the midst of all of your giving – make sure that you give Jesus Christ.
There are people in the world who are really looking for what you have – a relationship with a Lord and savior who cares. And guides.
I think that this is a fitting story for ascension Sunday – because it reminds us of the importance of Jesus in our lives.
Jesus had been in the world- teaching and leading his disciples. When the time came, he went to his destiny the cross. And their destiny was to continue on his work. The ascension is his promise that we are fully equipped to continue this work. To feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, the set the prisoners free. We are to meet the physical needs of those on need. But more importantly we are to meet the spiritual needs – to love one another. We are called to be the church – the place not where we heal, but where we lead others to the healer. So that they can have a relationship with the Jesus we know.
At one point, Joan had as many as seven men living in our house. Whenever they got kicked out of the shelter, Joan would take them in. We only had six months to live in our apartment. Joan was pretty far gone at the end of those six months. She had really gotten in a drug culture, and her illness got much worse. At the end of the six months, Joan’s mother picked her up and she went back home to her family and I went back to school. When I walked around, I would see a lot of the men that lived with us. And we would always end our conversation with the question – Have you seen Joan?
None of us ever saw Joan again. But I think as Jesus ascends to heaven, he asks us all have you seen Joan? If so what was she doing? And how did you respond? With care and understanding, or with continued alienation. Amen.
Year B
Ephesians 1:15-23
Luke 24: 44-53
For Ascension Sunday
Repreach of “Have You Seen Joan?”
It has been about 19 years ago now. I was a senior at Northwestern University. I had started out in the journalism program, one of the best in the country. Yet it seemed that school was not fulfilling for me. When I looked at my grades, I knew that I could do much better than I was doing. I was at a period of questioning in my life, I was searching for meaning. This had been a very busy time in my life, a lot was going on. In my search for answers, I had even changed my major to religion. But things were still not right, I was still not happy.
I had one quarter left before I would graduate. And looking into the darkness of the future, I had no idea of what I was going to do next. More importantly, I did not have the energy to find out. I was tired of working to pay my tuition, tired of having papers to write, and frankly, just plain tired of dealing with the red tape of life. So, on the day that I had to move out of my rented room for the summer, instead of registering for my last quarter of school, I put my things in storage and checked into a homeless shelter.
The shelter in Evanston had room for 30 people. 25 men and 5 women. This was a shelter for adults, so most women would have to go somewhere with their children. So usually, not all of the women’s beds were filled. We were allowed to stay for three months as long as we followed the rules. We had to check into the shelter every night by 10:30 pm. There was no drinking, smoking or fighting with the other guest. And you had to be ready to leave the shelter by 7 in the morning. We called the shelter, Hilda’s place after the director.
I must have been there about a month and a half, when Joan moved in. She was from Milwaukee. She was 34 years old, with 2 children. As I got to know her, I learned that she had some mental issues, as well as being addicted to cocaine and alcohol
When we would come into the shelter and try to get to know one another, the first question that you would be asked, was so what is your sad story. There was always some sad reason that we were there. Joan was a journalist, very intelligent and very articulate. She lived a very happy life with her two children in their own house. As her life unraveled, she lost everything, and ended up in Chicago.
After three months, Joan and I were given a transitional apartment. We could live for free, but we have to save up our money to be able to make a deposit on an apartment.
During this time, I went on with my daily activities. But I felt that I had gained a whole new perspective on life. Today, we hear and talk a lot about homelessness. And we have an image of who homeless people are and how we should deal with them.
I listened to a lot of conversations on homelessness, and how we as a society should deal with it. Perhaps, if we had enough jobs, or enough people to help, everyone would have a place to go. Or perhaps is we could just raise the self esteem of people and teach them a better way of life, everything would be okay.
But the explanations that we make up, don’t always fit the reality of the people and their stories. There were a lot of times when I felt that I was an alien, listening to the thoughts of others, and just not understanding.
For instance, I remember listening to a speech of a man who was in tears, because he had met a women sitting on a park bench crying. He made up a whole story about the women, and felt so guilty that he never bothered to help her. I remember being so frustrated because I could not help but to wonder why he would just assume she was homeless. Why didn’t he just speak to the woman to say hello, instead of making up a story about her. Like many people, he was willing to feel guilty about doing something big, but he was not even willing to relate to the woman.
And there was the time when I was in the Northwestern library, and a classmate of mine, Heather, had organized a canned food drive for the homeless. I told her that was a nice guesture, but most of the homeless people that I knew did not have can openers in their pockets. And most of us were not as resourceful as Joan, who one day borrowed a hot plate, and cooked her can of soup right there on the street.
I feel that it is important to tell my story, because we get caught up on our impressions. So we give to causes in hopes that they are making a difference. But what is it really that we are giving people and why?
As I said, my roommate Joan was a journalist. So one of the first things that she did when she came to Chicago, was to ask the Chicago Tribune if she could write a story about homelessness. One the night before she had to turn the story in, we talked about it. Her words have stuck with me all of this time. In her interviewing other people in the shelter, she realized that if they were to shut the shelter down and tell us all to go home. Not one of us would be at a lost of where to go. We all had families, and a place to go. Yet there was always a reason that people felt alienated from their families.
Joan went on to note that the search for a homeless shelter is not really a search for a physical bed, or food or clothing. People on the tramp trail (as living in shelters is affectionately called) are really on a spiritual journey. They are in search for a spiritual bed, spiritual covering, and spiritual food.
I was not born a Methodist. The seeds of my decision to devote my life to the Methodist church began in the help that I received during that time in my life. The mystery of God was not in the physical help that I received, it was in the grace that I felt for the first time in my life. I didn’t have to earn my keep, or answer any questions. I was just taken care of.
One day a Methodist minister brought his campus ministry group to worship with us in the shelter. Afterwards, Jack came up to me and told me that I appeared to be such a happy person. I think it was the reflection of the purple sweatshirt that I had on. People have told me that purple makes me glow. Because happy is not a verb that I would ever use to describe myself. But the interesting thing is, that after he said that - I didn’t need to live that life anymore. I joined his campus ministry, went back to school and went on the seminary. All because of one word of kindness from a stranger.
I often wondered if the people who volunteered to help us realized that people go to homeless shelters in search of the same things that people who haven’t lost their patience with society would go to church.
As members of the shelter grew together and shared our stories, they were not stories of houses burning down, or robbers taking everything. They were stories of significant relationships breaking down. They were stories of marriages falling apart, or of alienation from parents, or dealing with the death of a loved one. Even today, when I talk with people who ask for money- I always ask about their family. And I always find some type of alienation.
Some people can get their spiritual fulfillment by going to work or spending time in community. But when they cant find community, many people seek the tramp trail. It is called a trail, because people go from shelter to shelter, church to church telling their sad story over and over again. And once you start to get responses to your story – you get accustomed to that lifestyle. You get accustomed to getting taking care of.
Which is why I am not comfortable with our approaches to homelessness. After awhile, it starts to enable to behavior that it tries to address. Even the walk in ministry here in Oak Park talks about ways to empower those who ask for help, to change their lifestyles in order to needing the services. It is important to give to those in need, but until the spiritual issues are addressed, nothing will ever change.
There were many times in my stay with Joan, where I wondered if I would ever get out of that situation alive. There were many times when she threatened me. There were times when she didn’t say anything, I just woke up with the gas from the stove turned on. My prayer to God was that if I ever got out of the situation alive, my mission would not be to the homeless people I lived with, but with the nice church people that helped me.
I will never forget the first day I went to the community dinner at First Presbyterian Church. The people were so proud that they had given me a meal. Yet I was concerned that this was the worst day of my life. A day when I was totally confused, and had no answers of what was happening and what to do. And yet no one talked to me, no one said anything about their faith, their call to help me.
I wanted to give those nice church people one message – that in the midst of all of your giving – make sure that you give Jesus Christ.
There are people in the world who are really looking for what you have – a relationship with a Lord and savior who cares. And guides.
I think that this is a fitting story for ascension Sunday – because it reminds us of the importance of Jesus in our lives.
Jesus had been in the world- teaching and leading his disciples. When the time came, he went to his destiny the cross. And their destiny was to continue on his work. The ascension is his promise that we are fully equipped to continue this work. To feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, the set the prisoners free. We are to meet the physical needs of those on need. But more importantly we are to meet the spiritual needs – to love one another. We are called to be the church – the place not where we heal, but where we lead others to the healer. So that they can have a relationship with the Jesus we know.
At one point, Joan had as many as seven men living in our house. Whenever they got kicked out of the shelter, Joan would take them in. We only had six months to live in our apartment. Joan was pretty far gone at the end of those six months. She had really gotten in a drug culture, and her illness got much worse. At the end of the six months, Joan’s mother picked her up and she went back home to her family and I went back to school. When I walked around, I would see a lot of the men that lived with us. And we would always end our conversation with the question – Have you seen Joan?
None of us ever saw Joan again. But I think as Jesus ascends to heaven, he asks us all have you seen Joan? If so what was she doing? And how did you respond? With care and understanding, or with continued alienation. Amen.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
What is so Special about Today?
“What’s so different about Today?”
1 John 5:1-6
John 15:12-17
May 17, 2009
Repeat these words after me: Abide, love, joy, commandment, friends.
These are the important lessons to remember about the scripture today. Abide in Jesus Christ, Love one another, find your joy within the love of God, obey God’s commandments, and remember Jesus is always your friend.
I am a lectionary preacher, which means that there are certain scriptures that we preach from, based on a three year cycle. For the last few weeks after Easter, we have been studying scriptures from Acts, 1 John, and the book of John. Every week it seems that it is the same old thing – love, love, love love. It is the same thing love one another, love God , love Jesus. I am beginning to wonder, just how many sermons can one person preach on the subject of love. The word love is actually mentioned 8 different times in the gospel lesson.
And it doesn’t stop there. Jesus likes to teach this lesson over and over.
He said, the two great commandments are this: that you love God with
everything that you have, your heart, soul, mind and strength (or as another
translation puts it - your passion, prayer and intelligence 2) and love your
neighbour, each other, as you love yourself.
Elsewhere he told his disciples to love their enemies as well as their
friends. It is this inclusiveness of Jesus, which is often so hard to
follow. Our friends are often hard to love, let alone those we don’t think
of as our friends. Most of us have people we find hard to get on with,
people we find unattractive, those who outwardly oppose us, or make our
lives difficult.
But Jesus wants us to be as loving and concerned for one another as he is
for us. There is so much that we can do which will enable us to remain
abiding in God’s love by reaching out to those around us.
Respect, generosity, kindness, gentleness, compassion, encouragement are all
precursors for love. They are the things which build up a person and give
them confidence.
As church we are called to live lives which reflect our Lord and Master.
You have to notice, that Jesus didn’t make his teachings about love a friendly suggestion, or a helpful hint, but a commandment - We are commanded to Love one another as I have loved you.
We all know that it is not possible to love everybody. Not everybody is like us, not everybody proclaims Jesus Christ as Lord. And I don’t know about you, but loving people that I don’t know is not my struggle. It is harder to show love to the people that you come in contact with all of the time. Our family members, our coworkers, our neighbors, people whom you have to deal with, but you don’t understand. And you don’t see eye to eye with – how are you to get along with them? That is the challenge.
John 15 is all about the vine – and being connected to the vine. If we commit to live our life in the love of God – we have to power to love any one in any situation. Jesus says that if you abide in me , and my word abides in you – then you can ask and it shall be given. Prayer – is the only way to love others.
But in this scripture, Jesus gives us another powerful secret weapon to get through life.
Back in the day – There were people who had special status – they were known as friends of the king. They were allowed into the kings chamber the first thing in the morning. They knew all about the kings life and all about the kings decisions. Before the king would discuss politics with their advisors, he would discuss his plans with his friends. When the friends were in the street, and they were about to get robbed, or stopped by a soldier, or in the market with no money – they had this little card that they could pull out that was signed by the king. That card read that this was a friend of the emporer – and that absolutely no harm was to come of him or her. Everyone knew not to mess with a friend of the king – thy lived their lives in peace.
Jesus gives us all that same ticket. He says no one has greater love than this, to lay down his life for one’s friend. You are my friends if you do what I command. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing. But I have called you friends because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my father.
Jesus was a master amongst the masters. Jesus teachings are considered the greatest in the world – right up there with muhammed, Buddha, confuscios, Moses, Elijah. But the one thing about all of those great teachers, - they were always in control. They didn’t have no friends, they would never stoop down to the level of their students.
Jesus is a friend to everyone who listens to his words and obeys. He not only tells us to love – he loves us. He makes us a part of the most precious love affair in the world – the love of God the father and Jesus the son. If you are connected to that love you can love anybody. Love one another as I have loved you.
Love is how we feel about others, love is not whether we like people. Love is how we live and what we do.
What makes this scripture any different today then yesterday. How many times do we listen to a sermon on love – every day. Love is how we chose to take the next step, it how we respond to people, it is how we treat one another. Every day we need to be reminded of how important is it to love.
Amen.
1 John 5:1-6
John 15:12-17
May 17, 2009
Repeat these words after me: Abide, love, joy, commandment, friends.
These are the important lessons to remember about the scripture today. Abide in Jesus Christ, Love one another, find your joy within the love of God, obey God’s commandments, and remember Jesus is always your friend.
I am a lectionary preacher, which means that there are certain scriptures that we preach from, based on a three year cycle. For the last few weeks after Easter, we have been studying scriptures from Acts, 1 John, and the book of John. Every week it seems that it is the same old thing – love, love, love love. It is the same thing love one another, love God , love Jesus. I am beginning to wonder, just how many sermons can one person preach on the subject of love. The word love is actually mentioned 8 different times in the gospel lesson.
And it doesn’t stop there. Jesus likes to teach this lesson over and over.
He said, the two great commandments are this: that you love God with
everything that you have, your heart, soul, mind and strength (or as another
translation puts it - your passion, prayer and intelligence 2) and love your
neighbour, each other, as you love yourself.
Elsewhere he told his disciples to love their enemies as well as their
friends. It is this inclusiveness of Jesus, which is often so hard to
follow. Our friends are often hard to love, let alone those we don’t think
of as our friends. Most of us have people we find hard to get on with,
people we find unattractive, those who outwardly oppose us, or make our
lives difficult.
But Jesus wants us to be as loving and concerned for one another as he is
for us. There is so much that we can do which will enable us to remain
abiding in God’s love by reaching out to those around us.
Respect, generosity, kindness, gentleness, compassion, encouragement are all
precursors for love. They are the things which build up a person and give
them confidence.
As church we are called to live lives which reflect our Lord and Master.
You have to notice, that Jesus didn’t make his teachings about love a friendly suggestion, or a helpful hint, but a commandment - We are commanded to Love one another as I have loved you.
We all know that it is not possible to love everybody. Not everybody is like us, not everybody proclaims Jesus Christ as Lord. And I don’t know about you, but loving people that I don’t know is not my struggle. It is harder to show love to the people that you come in contact with all of the time. Our family members, our coworkers, our neighbors, people whom you have to deal with, but you don’t understand. And you don’t see eye to eye with – how are you to get along with them? That is the challenge.
John 15 is all about the vine – and being connected to the vine. If we commit to live our life in the love of God – we have to power to love any one in any situation. Jesus says that if you abide in me , and my word abides in you – then you can ask and it shall be given. Prayer – is the only way to love others.
But in this scripture, Jesus gives us another powerful secret weapon to get through life.
Back in the day – There were people who had special status – they were known as friends of the king. They were allowed into the kings chamber the first thing in the morning. They knew all about the kings life and all about the kings decisions. Before the king would discuss politics with their advisors, he would discuss his plans with his friends. When the friends were in the street, and they were about to get robbed, or stopped by a soldier, or in the market with no money – they had this little card that they could pull out that was signed by the king. That card read that this was a friend of the emporer – and that absolutely no harm was to come of him or her. Everyone knew not to mess with a friend of the king – thy lived their lives in peace.
Jesus gives us all that same ticket. He says no one has greater love than this, to lay down his life for one’s friend. You are my friends if you do what I command. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing. But I have called you friends because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my father.
Jesus was a master amongst the masters. Jesus teachings are considered the greatest in the world – right up there with muhammed, Buddha, confuscios, Moses, Elijah. But the one thing about all of those great teachers, - they were always in control. They didn’t have no friends, they would never stoop down to the level of their students.
Jesus is a friend to everyone who listens to his words and obeys. He not only tells us to love – he loves us. He makes us a part of the most precious love affair in the world – the love of God the father and Jesus the son. If you are connected to that love you can love anybody. Love one another as I have loved you.
Love is how we feel about others, love is not whether we like people. Love is how we live and what we do.
What makes this scripture any different today then yesterday. How many times do we listen to a sermon on love – every day. Love is how we chose to take the next step, it how we respond to people, it is how we treat one another. Every day we need to be reminded of how important is it to love.
Amen.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
The Fruit doesn't fall far from the Tree
Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 10, 2009
Mother’s Day
Year B
1 John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8
Fruit doesn’t fall far from the Tree
The relationship between a mother and child is the most basic, primary relationship of human kind. It is the relationship that forms who we are, the relationship that teaches us to love ourselves and others, it the relationship which tells who we should be in the world. There is no other relationship that is considered to as important as sacred as the relationship of mother and child.
Which is why I was surprised when the view decided to feature a woman who wrote a book on how she hated her mother for Mother’s Day. Friday – they featured the book Who do you think are by Alysa Meyers. In the book and in life, Myers relates that she always felt that her mother never loved her, and that she frankly never really cared for her mother. It was not necessarily an abusive relationship, but it was a relationship absent of love and care. After the book was published the author says that she has received lots of hate mail – people who could not accept the concept of someone admitting that they hated their mother. But in reading the reviews of the book, there were many others who praised her for her honesty.
You see the book was an attempt to get beyond her image of her mother and to get to know her mother as a human being. As she was able to uncover the details of her mothers life, she came to understand her mother and she came to understand their relationship. She discovered many things that she wished she had known when her mother was alive.
In her book she had the courage to do what many of us find that we have to do with all of our human relationships, especially if we want to be able to heal – to step aside and get to know the real person behind our perceptions and our feelings.
In her book, Alyssa Meyers talks about a box that she knew was in the back of her mothers closet. A box that she always felt held the clues to her mother and to their relationship. Of course in reading the reviews, they never tell what is in the box. But it helped her understand her mother.
Whatever our relationship, whatever our circumstance, whatever stage we are in our lives, there is someone in our lives – who is our mother, our primary relationship in the world.
And even for those of us who speak fondly of our mother, and who will say that we have or had a good relationship- if we think about it there were those rough times. Those times when we did not always see eye to eye.
Some elementary school students answered these questions about mothers. Why did God make mothers – she is the only one who knows where the scotch tape is, to help us out when we are being born. How did God make mothers - by magic plus superpowers and a whole lot of stirring. And why did God give you your mother and not some other mom – God knew she likes me a lot more than other people’s moms like me. I think that answer has the deepest sense of wisdom in it. Somehow we are special, more special than anyone else to the one we call mother.
The deeper truth in that statement is the fact that God knew that was the person for us. We came into that person’s life for a reason. They are the person who would show us the definition of love.
The lesson of 1 John is that God is the ultimate source of all love. There is no way in life that we could ever know love, if it wasn’t for God. God and love are one and the same thing. God is the source of love, but God is also the essence of what love is all about. To know that we are loved is to know that there is a God in the world.
Rabbi Harold Kushner, the author of the book why bad things happen to good people says that in Hebrew God is referred to as a He, but that is just a function of language. Not a function of who God is. Kushner explains that he would never call God an it – so he uses the language to personalize and honor god by saying he. But The essence of God is thought of as both a mother and father. In Hebrew the male words for God refer to a God out there in heaven. The God which is present here with us on earth, the God we experience, know and understand, is referred to in female terms – as a caring and mothering God.
Isnt that the whole point of Jesus Christ coming into the world – so that we can know that God is here with us – in many forms and in many ways.
The bible says that the primary way that we know that God loves us, is that God sent God’s only son into the world. Jesus is the spirit of God with flesh – so that we could have that person to teach us the ways of God.
The presence of the holy spirit in our lives is even further proof that God loves us and cares for us. The presence of God is our assurance that no matter where we are and what we go through the unconditional love of God is always present. The gospel promises that if you abide in God, that God will abide in you. God is always with you no matter what.
Unfortunately in life, we just don’t know it. Things are so intense that we are sure God is not there. I talked with a woman this week, who in tears confessed that there is no way God could love her. Every day there was a different thing going wrong. And she was sure that god was punishing her, because she didn’t like to go to church. I had to assure her that God might want her to go to church, but god would never punish her for not going. No matter who we are – we are children of God – a God who cares. Just like this woman – we get so caught up in the details of our life that we lose sight of God’s abiding presence. We are so caught up in our pain, our unwillingness to understand that we forget to see the obvious. That God is there all of the time. It is like we are standing on a big x – we are looking all around for something that looks like God, and miss that fact that God is with us all of the time. X marks the spot. The place where we are standing or sitting is holy ground. The life that we are living is a holy expression of god‘s love for us and for the world. God is present in the air that we breathe, the thoughts that we think, the actions that we take. God is everywhere around us. God is leading every action that happens to us in life. After Jacob went through is struggle with God – it was only after it was over that he realized that surely God was in this place – and we didn’t even see it.
Jesus says I am the vine and your are the branches. We are always connected. If you abide in me, and I in you, ask for whatever you wish and it shall be granted. God is always there and God always care.
Sometimes we need someone to point out the presence of God for us. Where ever the presence is – there is the love of God. For many of us – that person was like a mother to us. The one who cared for us, the one who pointed out the x of life and showed us the way forward. We can be grateful for that person whomever they were.
Because what strikes me, is how many people there are in the world who don’t believe that God loves them. They don’t believe that they are children of God, and they don’t see God’s presence in their situation. God is ever blessing them – and all they see are the bad things. Sort of like the author and her mother. She saw the bad things about her mother- but she never saw the obvious that her mother loved her the best way that she could – with what she had to give. Sort of like the women I talked to who saw all of the bad things in her life, but never stopped to see her blessings in the midst of it. Do you know how many people there are in the world who are asking if God really loves them? Who don’t know that they are loved children of God?
In order to witness God’s presence, you have to know God. The only way to know God - is to know that you are loved. The only way to know love is to be loved. To have someone who mothered you , cared for you and pointed out the presence for you.
Today is mothers day – the day we point out the love in our lives. The day we acknowledge that we have been loved in some way. And we honor the presence of love in our lives. In that sense every day is mothers day. But every day we are also called to perfect our love. Perfect not in being without blame. But in being complete. Where there is woundedness to bring forgiveness, where there is lack of understanding to bring clarity, where there is hatred to bring love. Where there is someone who asks the question does someone love me, to pull them aside and show them the x – which proves that we all stand in holy ground and that the love of God abides in us all.
I leave you with this poem…
in the secret places, where fears and doubts litter the floor of my heart, you come along sweeping them into your broom and dustpan, exposing the bright foundation of faith; you sit me on your lap, placing your hand over mine, stretching out my finger, so, together, we trace the words in the stories of grace and hope told (and lived out) in each generation; you could roam all the ends of creation, but choose to hang out with me (!) grabbing me by the hand when i am about to dart out into the traffic on Sin Street; lifting me into the air to reach the highest branch so i can swing back-and-forth on the Arm of your love. Mother . . . . . .may i always lose my heart to you.
Today, may you not only know that- but also be that.
Amen.
May 10, 2009
Mother’s Day
Year B
1 John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8
Fruit doesn’t fall far from the Tree
The relationship between a mother and child is the most basic, primary relationship of human kind. It is the relationship that forms who we are, the relationship that teaches us to love ourselves and others, it the relationship which tells who we should be in the world. There is no other relationship that is considered to as important as sacred as the relationship of mother and child.
Which is why I was surprised when the view decided to feature a woman who wrote a book on how she hated her mother for Mother’s Day. Friday – they featured the book Who do you think are by Alysa Meyers. In the book and in life, Myers relates that she always felt that her mother never loved her, and that she frankly never really cared for her mother. It was not necessarily an abusive relationship, but it was a relationship absent of love and care. After the book was published the author says that she has received lots of hate mail – people who could not accept the concept of someone admitting that they hated their mother. But in reading the reviews of the book, there were many others who praised her for her honesty.
You see the book was an attempt to get beyond her image of her mother and to get to know her mother as a human being. As she was able to uncover the details of her mothers life, she came to understand her mother and she came to understand their relationship. She discovered many things that she wished she had known when her mother was alive.
In her book she had the courage to do what many of us find that we have to do with all of our human relationships, especially if we want to be able to heal – to step aside and get to know the real person behind our perceptions and our feelings.
In her book, Alyssa Meyers talks about a box that she knew was in the back of her mothers closet. A box that she always felt held the clues to her mother and to their relationship. Of course in reading the reviews, they never tell what is in the box. But it helped her understand her mother.
Whatever our relationship, whatever our circumstance, whatever stage we are in our lives, there is someone in our lives – who is our mother, our primary relationship in the world.
And even for those of us who speak fondly of our mother, and who will say that we have or had a good relationship- if we think about it there were those rough times. Those times when we did not always see eye to eye.
Some elementary school students answered these questions about mothers. Why did God make mothers – she is the only one who knows where the scotch tape is, to help us out when we are being born. How did God make mothers - by magic plus superpowers and a whole lot of stirring. And why did God give you your mother and not some other mom – God knew she likes me a lot more than other people’s moms like me. I think that answer has the deepest sense of wisdom in it. Somehow we are special, more special than anyone else to the one we call mother.
The deeper truth in that statement is the fact that God knew that was the person for us. We came into that person’s life for a reason. They are the person who would show us the definition of love.
The lesson of 1 John is that God is the ultimate source of all love. There is no way in life that we could ever know love, if it wasn’t for God. God and love are one and the same thing. God is the source of love, but God is also the essence of what love is all about. To know that we are loved is to know that there is a God in the world.
Rabbi Harold Kushner, the author of the book why bad things happen to good people says that in Hebrew God is referred to as a He, but that is just a function of language. Not a function of who God is. Kushner explains that he would never call God an it – so he uses the language to personalize and honor god by saying he. But The essence of God is thought of as both a mother and father. In Hebrew the male words for God refer to a God out there in heaven. The God which is present here with us on earth, the God we experience, know and understand, is referred to in female terms – as a caring and mothering God.
Isnt that the whole point of Jesus Christ coming into the world – so that we can know that God is here with us – in many forms and in many ways.
The bible says that the primary way that we know that God loves us, is that God sent God’s only son into the world. Jesus is the spirit of God with flesh – so that we could have that person to teach us the ways of God.
The presence of the holy spirit in our lives is even further proof that God loves us and cares for us. The presence of God is our assurance that no matter where we are and what we go through the unconditional love of God is always present. The gospel promises that if you abide in God, that God will abide in you. God is always with you no matter what.
Unfortunately in life, we just don’t know it. Things are so intense that we are sure God is not there. I talked with a woman this week, who in tears confessed that there is no way God could love her. Every day there was a different thing going wrong. And she was sure that god was punishing her, because she didn’t like to go to church. I had to assure her that God might want her to go to church, but god would never punish her for not going. No matter who we are – we are children of God – a God who cares. Just like this woman – we get so caught up in the details of our life that we lose sight of God’s abiding presence. We are so caught up in our pain, our unwillingness to understand that we forget to see the obvious. That God is there all of the time. It is like we are standing on a big x – we are looking all around for something that looks like God, and miss that fact that God is with us all of the time. X marks the spot. The place where we are standing or sitting is holy ground. The life that we are living is a holy expression of god‘s love for us and for the world. God is present in the air that we breathe, the thoughts that we think, the actions that we take. God is everywhere around us. God is leading every action that happens to us in life. After Jacob went through is struggle with God – it was only after it was over that he realized that surely God was in this place – and we didn’t even see it.
Jesus says I am the vine and your are the branches. We are always connected. If you abide in me, and I in you, ask for whatever you wish and it shall be granted. God is always there and God always care.
Sometimes we need someone to point out the presence of God for us. Where ever the presence is – there is the love of God. For many of us – that person was like a mother to us. The one who cared for us, the one who pointed out the x of life and showed us the way forward. We can be grateful for that person whomever they were.
Because what strikes me, is how many people there are in the world who don’t believe that God loves them. They don’t believe that they are children of God, and they don’t see God’s presence in their situation. God is ever blessing them – and all they see are the bad things. Sort of like the author and her mother. She saw the bad things about her mother- but she never saw the obvious that her mother loved her the best way that she could – with what she had to give. Sort of like the women I talked to who saw all of the bad things in her life, but never stopped to see her blessings in the midst of it. Do you know how many people there are in the world who are asking if God really loves them? Who don’t know that they are loved children of God?
In order to witness God’s presence, you have to know God. The only way to know God - is to know that you are loved. The only way to know love is to be loved. To have someone who mothered you , cared for you and pointed out the presence for you.
Today is mothers day – the day we point out the love in our lives. The day we acknowledge that we have been loved in some way. And we honor the presence of love in our lives. In that sense every day is mothers day. But every day we are also called to perfect our love. Perfect not in being without blame. But in being complete. Where there is woundedness to bring forgiveness, where there is lack of understanding to bring clarity, where there is hatred to bring love. Where there is someone who asks the question does someone love me, to pull them aside and show them the x – which proves that we all stand in holy ground and that the love of God abides in us all.
I leave you with this poem…
in the secret places, where fears and doubts litter the floor of my heart, you come along sweeping them into your broom and dustpan, exposing the bright foundation of faith; you sit me on your lap, placing your hand over mine, stretching out my finger, so, together, we trace the words in the stories of grace and hope told (and lived out) in each generation; you could roam all the ends of creation, but choose to hang out with me (!) grabbing me by the hand when i am about to dart out into the traffic on Sin Street; lifting me into the air to reach the highest branch so i can swing back-and-forth on the Arm of your love. Mother . . . . . .may i always lose my heart to you.
Today, may you not only know that- but also be that.
Amen.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Threatened with Resurrection
April 26, 2009
Preached for the Third Sunday of Easter
Threatened with Resurrection
Reproached and rewritten from May 3, 1998 (there are other versions)
Revelation 7:9-17
Luke 24:36-48
For year B
It’s been what – 4 years now and I am still a Grey’s anatomy fan. It is my dream to one day write my sermons that way Shondra Rhymes writes her episodes. She always starts out with a theme in every day life, something that all of the characters are dealing with. They start their days off dealing with this issue, and then on to the hospital to see if come full blast. And at the end of the episode – there is always some resolution to the situation, but the issue still there. There is some comment about the issue and the introduction of some cool song – that everyone will go out and buy to think more about how that issue plays out in our lives.
The first episode this Thursday was a rerun – on how Izzy, one of the original medical students was recovering from an operation to remove a brain tumor - the whole cast – most of whom were her classmates stood around the operating room to see if she would be alright. The theme for the night was trauma – Trauma in our lives always leaves a scar no matter how much we heal – it follows us around in our lives. But the good thing is that it moves us forward. It edges us to go on, to move forward to something deeper in our lives.
That is the theme of my sermon this morning – trauma- and how it affects us and gets us going. That is the theme of Easter – the Sunday’s after Easter – dealing with the trauma of death, and betrayal, and misunderstanding. And yet still witnessing the beauty of God’s presence - and creating a beautiful life in the midst of it.
I am always amazed at how the writer of Grey’s anatomy is able to put all of life’s issues into one concise word – and then she says one or two sentences about that issue – and she has said all that needs to be said. How does she do that?
I am not there yet – I still have to preach a whole sermon to get my point across. But believe me I am working on it. But I also don’t have the luxury of thousands of actors to tell my story for me.
But anyway – back to the theme of trauma – and Easter. In the Luke passage for today – The disciples are devastated at the death of Jesus. They don’t know what they are going to do – until he appears to them and brings them peace and then sends them out into the world to witness to what they know about God. After the resurrection, there are several stories of Jesus appearance. They are so caught up in grief, they don’t recognize Jesus. But he doesn’t come to continue life as it has been, but to shake them up to realize this things have changed. Resurrection is the beauty of life, after the scars of trauma. Resurrection is the message that it is time to move forward.
The power of God came to earth- through the life of Jesus, but it was after the resurrection that power was let out into the world – to make an appearance at any time in any situation.
The Buddhist have reincarnation – which says that it it doesn’t matter if you die – because you will come back again to correct all of the mistakes that you made in this life. The Hindu’s have rebirth – which says that when you die, you will come back in another form based on the way that you lived your life. The Jews have stories of rescitation – there are even plenty of stories of people who have died, whom Jesus himself bought back to life – Resurrection the concept of experiencing death and decay – and then completely coming back to life as the person you always were - is a concept that is unique to Christianity . It is a special concept – because it stresses that we are all special and unique people to God. That life is precious and intended for a purpose. We only get one chance at life, and it is important for us to make the most of that one chance.
There is a human part of us and there is a divine part of us. There is a part of us that disappears when we die, and there is a part of us that lives on.
Resurrection acknowledges the trauma of life – and the push forward for us to heal and move on.
One of my most powerful examples of the definition of resurrection, and the power that it has for our lives – comes from a book that we had to read in seminary called - Threatened with Resurrection.
That seems like a strange title - threatened with resurrection. Threatened – resurrection is a promise not a threat. It is what Jesus promises us if we are good and we behave nicely. At the end of the world – we too will be resurrected like him.
Actually resurrection is not a promise of the future - but it is a promise of now. Of dealing with the trauma that we experience in our lives.
Threatened with Resurrection is a poem written by Julia Esquivel from Guatamala. In the 1950’s Guatamala was a country which was very oppressive and apparently very paranoid. They killed hundreds of thousands of their own people – because they thought they were conspiring against them. Soldiers would go through whole neighborhoods and ill everybody – even 3 month old babies. For many years – people were afraid of speaking out of this injustice.
Why do I tell you that story for Easter – because these people have one of the most powerful Easter faiths that have ever heard of. They realized that the soldiers and this dire situation had just threatened them with resurrection. They realized that no matter how many of them were killed that the soldiers could not kill the spirit of the community. They realized that no matter how much devastation that they had to face, that they would not become resentful. They would continue to love peace, to love God, and to love their enemies. They truly came to represent what it means to be resurrected. It means that you cannot destroy their soul – which was never a part of this world. What the world did not give them, the world could not take away. They came to realize that they were children of God – who would always prevail.
I tell you that story because there are still many communities which are being devastated in much that same way – every day. And we never hear about it, it we hear romantic stories about it. We hear the stories of pirates in Somalia – because it is romantic for Americans to hear that our Navy are protecting people from the bad guys – but we never hear that their country Somalia has been lawless and without proper government for years. We never hear about all of the people in Darfur who are still being persecuted, or that the Congo and Liberia have been in a civil war for years.
Even the missionary Janet Lehr Lewis talks of the Palestinians who are depending on their faith in an oppressive situation. There are many times when she will send an email to tell us the real story behind what we hear about in the news. There are many times when she will say in her email – that it is not safe for her to tell the truth about what she is going through - because she is not safe yet.
I tell you that story – because I am grateful to groups like the United Methodist Women – who are willing to uncover the truth about the world that we live in. Every year, they provide studies for us to look at a country or situation in a new and different way. The School of Christian Mission has been a profound part of my faith development. This year they are doing a study on Darfur – to tell people what it really going on. They tell us what we can do to help and to pray even when we are far removed from the situation. I had someone from another denomination, say that the United Methodist Women are the best kept secret of the denomination. If people were aware of what they were doing, they would definitely listen.
I tell you that story - because if they can be threatened with resurrection in such dire circumstance – that surely we too can become awakened to realize the role that resurrection plays in our lives.
A man went to a psychologist to complain about his brother in law who thought he was a chicken. The psychologist said it should be no problem to cure the brother in law of his delusion. The man refused, said no I don’t think I will be bringing him in – we really need the eggs.
There is a story that the disciple Peter was able to heal a man of his blindness. After being healed, the man gouged his eyes out-he had been making a lot of money as a blind man, and he wanted to continue to play his game.
In life, Jesus realized that many of us are just like that. The resurrection shows us that there is a better way of doing things, a healthier way to live. And want to go back to the old way of doing things. It makes sense to us. And in a lot of ways – we were so glad to have the eggs- they pay off – that we were no willing to think differently. Resurrection is truly a threat to us.
Things can change – things will change- things are intended to change. We have to accept it- but we also have to have faith that God will give us the strength to adapt to new ways. In spite of our resistance. We can give up bad habits, we can think about the future.
It is usually our fear of death that keeps us locked in our lives before resurrection. It is the fear of death that forces others to be oppressive and to kill others, it is fear of death that keeps us thinking about scarcity instead of abundance.
Jesus made a point to come to us to show us that death does indeed happen, but so does resurrection. Always. So there is nothing that we have to be afraid of.
The poem threatened with resurrection is a very long poem – not suitable for reading the whole thing in worship. But I wanted to read some lines of it.
There is something here within us, which doesn’t let us sleep, which doesn’t let us rest, which doesn’t stop pounding deep inside, it is the silent, warm weeping Indian woman without her husband, it is the sad gaze of the children, fixed there beyond memory, in the very pupil of our eyes which during sleep, though closed, keep watch, with each contraction of the heart in every wakening, what keeps us from sleeping is they have threatened us with resurrection. Because at each nightfall, though exhausted from the endless inventory of killings since 1954, yet we continue to love life, and do not accept death. Because in this marathon of hope, there is always others to relieve us, in bearing the courage necessary to arrive at the goal which lies beyond death.. Accompany us then on this vigil and you will know what it is to dream. You will then know how marvelous it is to live threatened with resurrection, to dream awake, to keep watch asleep, to live while dying, and to already know oneself resurrected. (reread the last paragraph)
None of us probably will ever know the feeling of living as persecuted people. That is not the point. That all of us should know the significance of living as resurrected people. People with the power to go on and move forward. People with the power to heal and to be healed. People with the power to know that life will always go on in any circumstance.
Trauma – trauma always leaves a scar on us- But it is that scar that can either hold us down – or move us forward. Depending on what we believe about the resurrection. God’s power to overcome it all.
Finally the quatamalan have a national bird – the quetzal – it looks like a small parrot. When caged – it dies. But when allowed to be free it lives for a very long time. But he is special, because even in the toughest of circumstances – it rises above and recreated itself and flies away to a new life.
What will the power of resurrection do for us?
Preached for the Third Sunday of Easter
Threatened with Resurrection
Reproached and rewritten from May 3, 1998 (there are other versions)
Revelation 7:9-17
Luke 24:36-48
For year B
It’s been what – 4 years now and I am still a Grey’s anatomy fan. It is my dream to one day write my sermons that way Shondra Rhymes writes her episodes. She always starts out with a theme in every day life, something that all of the characters are dealing with. They start their days off dealing with this issue, and then on to the hospital to see if come full blast. And at the end of the episode – there is always some resolution to the situation, but the issue still there. There is some comment about the issue and the introduction of some cool song – that everyone will go out and buy to think more about how that issue plays out in our lives.
The first episode this Thursday was a rerun – on how Izzy, one of the original medical students was recovering from an operation to remove a brain tumor - the whole cast – most of whom were her classmates stood around the operating room to see if she would be alright. The theme for the night was trauma – Trauma in our lives always leaves a scar no matter how much we heal – it follows us around in our lives. But the good thing is that it moves us forward. It edges us to go on, to move forward to something deeper in our lives.
That is the theme of my sermon this morning – trauma- and how it affects us and gets us going. That is the theme of Easter – the Sunday’s after Easter – dealing with the trauma of death, and betrayal, and misunderstanding. And yet still witnessing the beauty of God’s presence - and creating a beautiful life in the midst of it.
I am always amazed at how the writer of Grey’s anatomy is able to put all of life’s issues into one concise word – and then she says one or two sentences about that issue – and she has said all that needs to be said. How does she do that?
I am not there yet – I still have to preach a whole sermon to get my point across. But believe me I am working on it. But I also don’t have the luxury of thousands of actors to tell my story for me.
But anyway – back to the theme of trauma – and Easter. In the Luke passage for today – The disciples are devastated at the death of Jesus. They don’t know what they are going to do – until he appears to them and brings them peace and then sends them out into the world to witness to what they know about God. After the resurrection, there are several stories of Jesus appearance. They are so caught up in grief, they don’t recognize Jesus. But he doesn’t come to continue life as it has been, but to shake them up to realize this things have changed. Resurrection is the beauty of life, after the scars of trauma. Resurrection is the message that it is time to move forward.
The power of God came to earth- through the life of Jesus, but it was after the resurrection that power was let out into the world – to make an appearance at any time in any situation.
The Buddhist have reincarnation – which says that it it doesn’t matter if you die – because you will come back again to correct all of the mistakes that you made in this life. The Hindu’s have rebirth – which says that when you die, you will come back in another form based on the way that you lived your life. The Jews have stories of rescitation – there are even plenty of stories of people who have died, whom Jesus himself bought back to life – Resurrection the concept of experiencing death and decay – and then completely coming back to life as the person you always were - is a concept that is unique to Christianity . It is a special concept – because it stresses that we are all special and unique people to God. That life is precious and intended for a purpose. We only get one chance at life, and it is important for us to make the most of that one chance.
There is a human part of us and there is a divine part of us. There is a part of us that disappears when we die, and there is a part of us that lives on.
Resurrection acknowledges the trauma of life – and the push forward for us to heal and move on.
One of my most powerful examples of the definition of resurrection, and the power that it has for our lives – comes from a book that we had to read in seminary called - Threatened with Resurrection.
That seems like a strange title - threatened with resurrection. Threatened – resurrection is a promise not a threat. It is what Jesus promises us if we are good and we behave nicely. At the end of the world – we too will be resurrected like him.
Actually resurrection is not a promise of the future - but it is a promise of now. Of dealing with the trauma that we experience in our lives.
Threatened with Resurrection is a poem written by Julia Esquivel from Guatamala. In the 1950’s Guatamala was a country which was very oppressive and apparently very paranoid. They killed hundreds of thousands of their own people – because they thought they were conspiring against them. Soldiers would go through whole neighborhoods and ill everybody – even 3 month old babies. For many years – people were afraid of speaking out of this injustice.
Why do I tell you that story for Easter – because these people have one of the most powerful Easter faiths that have ever heard of. They realized that the soldiers and this dire situation had just threatened them with resurrection. They realized that no matter how many of them were killed that the soldiers could not kill the spirit of the community. They realized that no matter how much devastation that they had to face, that they would not become resentful. They would continue to love peace, to love God, and to love their enemies. They truly came to represent what it means to be resurrected. It means that you cannot destroy their soul – which was never a part of this world. What the world did not give them, the world could not take away. They came to realize that they were children of God – who would always prevail.
I tell you that story because there are still many communities which are being devastated in much that same way – every day. And we never hear about it, it we hear romantic stories about it. We hear the stories of pirates in Somalia – because it is romantic for Americans to hear that our Navy are protecting people from the bad guys – but we never hear that their country Somalia has been lawless and without proper government for years. We never hear about all of the people in Darfur who are still being persecuted, or that the Congo and Liberia have been in a civil war for years.
Even the missionary Janet Lehr Lewis talks of the Palestinians who are depending on their faith in an oppressive situation. There are many times when she will send an email to tell us the real story behind what we hear about in the news. There are many times when she will say in her email – that it is not safe for her to tell the truth about what she is going through - because she is not safe yet.
I tell you that story – because I am grateful to groups like the United Methodist Women – who are willing to uncover the truth about the world that we live in. Every year, they provide studies for us to look at a country or situation in a new and different way. The School of Christian Mission has been a profound part of my faith development. This year they are doing a study on Darfur – to tell people what it really going on. They tell us what we can do to help and to pray even when we are far removed from the situation. I had someone from another denomination, say that the United Methodist Women are the best kept secret of the denomination. If people were aware of what they were doing, they would definitely listen.
I tell you that story - because if they can be threatened with resurrection in such dire circumstance – that surely we too can become awakened to realize the role that resurrection plays in our lives.
A man went to a psychologist to complain about his brother in law who thought he was a chicken. The psychologist said it should be no problem to cure the brother in law of his delusion. The man refused, said no I don’t think I will be bringing him in – we really need the eggs.
There is a story that the disciple Peter was able to heal a man of his blindness. After being healed, the man gouged his eyes out-he had been making a lot of money as a blind man, and he wanted to continue to play his game.
In life, Jesus realized that many of us are just like that. The resurrection shows us that there is a better way of doing things, a healthier way to live. And want to go back to the old way of doing things. It makes sense to us. And in a lot of ways – we were so glad to have the eggs- they pay off – that we were no willing to think differently. Resurrection is truly a threat to us.
Things can change – things will change- things are intended to change. We have to accept it- but we also have to have faith that God will give us the strength to adapt to new ways. In spite of our resistance. We can give up bad habits, we can think about the future.
It is usually our fear of death that keeps us locked in our lives before resurrection. It is the fear of death that forces others to be oppressive and to kill others, it is fear of death that keeps us thinking about scarcity instead of abundance.
Jesus made a point to come to us to show us that death does indeed happen, but so does resurrection. Always. So there is nothing that we have to be afraid of.
The poem threatened with resurrection is a very long poem – not suitable for reading the whole thing in worship. But I wanted to read some lines of it.
There is something here within us, which doesn’t let us sleep, which doesn’t let us rest, which doesn’t stop pounding deep inside, it is the silent, warm weeping Indian woman without her husband, it is the sad gaze of the children, fixed there beyond memory, in the very pupil of our eyes which during sleep, though closed, keep watch, with each contraction of the heart in every wakening, what keeps us from sleeping is they have threatened us with resurrection. Because at each nightfall, though exhausted from the endless inventory of killings since 1954, yet we continue to love life, and do not accept death. Because in this marathon of hope, there is always others to relieve us, in bearing the courage necessary to arrive at the goal which lies beyond death.. Accompany us then on this vigil and you will know what it is to dream. You will then know how marvelous it is to live threatened with resurrection, to dream awake, to keep watch asleep, to live while dying, and to already know oneself resurrected. (reread the last paragraph)
None of us probably will ever know the feeling of living as persecuted people. That is not the point. That all of us should know the significance of living as resurrected people. People with the power to go on and move forward. People with the power to heal and to be healed. People with the power to know that life will always go on in any circumstance.
Trauma – trauma always leaves a scar on us- But it is that scar that can either hold us down – or move us forward. Depending on what we believe about the resurrection. God’s power to overcome it all.
Finally the quatamalan have a national bird – the quetzal – it looks like a small parrot. When caged – it dies. But when allowed to be free it lives for a very long time. But he is special, because even in the toughest of circumstances – it rises above and recreated itself and flies away to a new life.
What will the power of resurrection do for us?
Saturday, April 25, 2009
I Believe in Jesus - Women's Day at Mandell United Methodist Church
Turn in your hymnals to #881 – as we say the apostles creed together.
The apostle’s creed is the official faith statement of the Christian church. It is what we all agree on, what we believe to be true about the man we call Jesus the Christ. It is our theology – what you have to believe about jesus in order to consider yourself to be a true Christian.
And it is a blocking stone for many who are not able to accept the Christian story as truth.
Why would any of us be willing to believe in things which we know to be impossible in the every day world. We all know that a virgin cannot give birth, we all know that once you are dead that you cant come back to life, and who would be arrogant to consider themselves a blood relative of God?
Yes the apostles creed, the Christian faith statement is a blockage for many to the Christian faith.
Lew Wallace was the governor of New Mexico when he decided that he wanted to write a book disproving the existence of Jesus. He was encouraged by his other agnostic friends to write this book, because the world really needed to now the truth. He set out to find the facts around this ficticius man – and he found that there really was a women Miriyam – which is closer to the name Miriam then to Mary, who gave birth to Yshua – which is closer to Joshua than Jesus. He really did recruit twelve disciples, and he was really crucified in the cross.
In the midst of his fact finding – he found something else – the real Jesus came to him one night and introduced himself. Lew Wallace immediately fell to his knees and started to pray. Surely this man must be the son of God he thought.
Eventually he became a fervent Christian, something that his Methodist wife had been praying for every since he decided to prove that Jesus was not real.
Jesus is indeed a real person, Jesus indeed made a signigificant influence on history. Even the muslims uphold Jesus as an important prophet. They even have scriptures in the Koran supporting the virgin birth.
Carl Sagan was another famous scientist – who did not believe in the existence of God. He did not understand why people clung to their beliefs about God, based on the testimony of people who have been dead for 200 years. He once asked a pastor – why do you believe in a Jesus that you have never seen? The pastor replied – why do you believe in black holes which you have never seen? Carl Sagan went to his death – refusing to believe in Jesus. His wife commented that there was no deathbed conversion, no appeals to be saved, no hope for the afterlife, as he lay dying there was no acknowledgement that this was the last time that he would ever see his loved ones. After he passed away – someone asked his wife – didn’t he want to believe in Christ- didn’t he want to believe that there was more to life. She commented that he didn’t want to believe in Jesus – he wanted to know Jesus.
That is the good news – that in order to believe in Jesus – you have to know Jesus. Belief in Jesus in not just in the facts about his life, it is not just in the stories that you hear in church – but it is in the way Jesus comes to you in your life – and speaks to your heart and soul. In order to believe in Jesus you always have to have a personal story to tell. A story of how Jesus came to you and ministered to just you and just your situation.
Jesus comes to each of us in a special way. The book of acts records the fact that Jesus came to Saul, another agnostic on the road to Damascus. And changed his life forever.
Jesus has come to me at many points in my life. As a matter of fact, there was never a time when Jesus did not come to me. As a child, would ask him why he had to talk to loudly in the thunder – I could hear him clearly. He would explain that I did not have to be afraid of the thunder. As a teenager, I was the victim of a crime – and I told Jesus that if he loved me he would not have allowed that to happen. And he explained that he loved me even though that happen, and that it was his love that would help me heal from the incident. As a young adult I spent 9 months living in a homeless shelter, looking for some grounding to get my life together. Things Got better, but I have never forgot the faith lesson from that experience. And even today, when I am discouraged, he lifts me up. When I think that I am at the end of my rope, he supports me. When I am crying and saying that I am lost and I don’t know what I am doing – he explains that is why he has called me to this situation, because he know that I am the one to make a difference.
Jesus is alive – and at work throughout the world. I don’t have to tell the story of Jesus to others – because in my experience Jesus always speaks for himself. I don’t have to think about what would Jesus do in this situation, because in my experience Jesus has a mind of his own. He acts as he sees fit to show others the will of God. All I have to do is witness to how I see Jesus at work in my own life.
Charles Templeton was a friend of Billy Graham’s in the 40’s. He was a preacher too, until one day he decided that it was all too much. He left the ministry and became a news reporter. At 83, he was interviewed and asked why he left – he commented that he saw suffering in the world and nothing seemed to be helping. If God was real – he would not allow all of these things to happen he said.
He was then asked what he thought of Jesus. He said he was the greatest human who ever lived. He was wise and had a deep moral conscious. He was a genius. He is the most important part of my life. Everything that I know about life, I learned it from Jesus. Everything right, pure, and loving Jesus taught me. And if I had to admit it – I really miss him. His eyes filled with tears, he cried, and he refused to go on with the interview.
I don’t know your story - I don’t know your relationship with Jesus. I don’t know how you know Jesus – But I know that you do. Somehow, someway you know Jesus. And that Jesus knows you and your story well.
I know Jesus. I know Jesus as a friend, I know Jesus as a savior, I know Jesus as my Lord. I believe in Jesus, because Jesus is an intrical part of my life story.
You now all religions acknowledge the importance of moral ethics. All religions strive for us to be a more loving world.
But Christianity is the only religion which offers salvation. Salvation is healing and well being in the midst of the suffering of the world. Salvation is the knowledge that you have been set aside because God has a greater purpose for you.
Do you believe in Jesus? Do you know Jesus to be your Lord and Savior?
The apostle creed is more than just a faith statement, it is more than a creed of what we should believe about Jesus?
It is a reminder, and affirmation of the power of Christ at work in the world today. When Jesus walked the earth – that power was unleashed in the world. When he was resurrected – that power was free to roam the earth – making itself known everywhere, at any time for anyone.
When you believe in Jesus, and know Jesus and live Jesus - then the world become the holy place – that God created for us all.
You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can it saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. You are a light to the world, a city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works, and give glory to your father in heaven.
Be a witness to what God has done for you – wherever you go. Amen.
The apostle’s creed is the official faith statement of the Christian church. It is what we all agree on, what we believe to be true about the man we call Jesus the Christ. It is our theology – what you have to believe about jesus in order to consider yourself to be a true Christian.
And it is a blocking stone for many who are not able to accept the Christian story as truth.
Why would any of us be willing to believe in things which we know to be impossible in the every day world. We all know that a virgin cannot give birth, we all know that once you are dead that you cant come back to life, and who would be arrogant to consider themselves a blood relative of God?
Yes the apostles creed, the Christian faith statement is a blockage for many to the Christian faith.
Lew Wallace was the governor of New Mexico when he decided that he wanted to write a book disproving the existence of Jesus. He was encouraged by his other agnostic friends to write this book, because the world really needed to now the truth. He set out to find the facts around this ficticius man – and he found that there really was a women Miriyam – which is closer to the name Miriam then to Mary, who gave birth to Yshua – which is closer to Joshua than Jesus. He really did recruit twelve disciples, and he was really crucified in the cross.
In the midst of his fact finding – he found something else – the real Jesus came to him one night and introduced himself. Lew Wallace immediately fell to his knees and started to pray. Surely this man must be the son of God he thought.
Eventually he became a fervent Christian, something that his Methodist wife had been praying for every since he decided to prove that Jesus was not real.
Jesus is indeed a real person, Jesus indeed made a signigificant influence on history. Even the muslims uphold Jesus as an important prophet. They even have scriptures in the Koran supporting the virgin birth.
Carl Sagan was another famous scientist – who did not believe in the existence of God. He did not understand why people clung to their beliefs about God, based on the testimony of people who have been dead for 200 years. He once asked a pastor – why do you believe in a Jesus that you have never seen? The pastor replied – why do you believe in black holes which you have never seen? Carl Sagan went to his death – refusing to believe in Jesus. His wife commented that there was no deathbed conversion, no appeals to be saved, no hope for the afterlife, as he lay dying there was no acknowledgement that this was the last time that he would ever see his loved ones. After he passed away – someone asked his wife – didn’t he want to believe in Christ- didn’t he want to believe that there was more to life. She commented that he didn’t want to believe in Jesus – he wanted to know Jesus.
That is the good news – that in order to believe in Jesus – you have to know Jesus. Belief in Jesus in not just in the facts about his life, it is not just in the stories that you hear in church – but it is in the way Jesus comes to you in your life – and speaks to your heart and soul. In order to believe in Jesus you always have to have a personal story to tell. A story of how Jesus came to you and ministered to just you and just your situation.
Jesus comes to each of us in a special way. The book of acts records the fact that Jesus came to Saul, another agnostic on the road to Damascus. And changed his life forever.
Jesus has come to me at many points in my life. As a matter of fact, there was never a time when Jesus did not come to me. As a child, would ask him why he had to talk to loudly in the thunder – I could hear him clearly. He would explain that I did not have to be afraid of the thunder. As a teenager, I was the victim of a crime – and I told Jesus that if he loved me he would not have allowed that to happen. And he explained that he loved me even though that happen, and that it was his love that would help me heal from the incident. As a young adult I spent 9 months living in a homeless shelter, looking for some grounding to get my life together. Things Got better, but I have never forgot the faith lesson from that experience. And even today, when I am discouraged, he lifts me up. When I think that I am at the end of my rope, he supports me. When I am crying and saying that I am lost and I don’t know what I am doing – he explains that is why he has called me to this situation, because he know that I am the one to make a difference.
Jesus is alive – and at work throughout the world. I don’t have to tell the story of Jesus to others – because in my experience Jesus always speaks for himself. I don’t have to think about what would Jesus do in this situation, because in my experience Jesus has a mind of his own. He acts as he sees fit to show others the will of God. All I have to do is witness to how I see Jesus at work in my own life.
Charles Templeton was a friend of Billy Graham’s in the 40’s. He was a preacher too, until one day he decided that it was all too much. He left the ministry and became a news reporter. At 83, he was interviewed and asked why he left – he commented that he saw suffering in the world and nothing seemed to be helping. If God was real – he would not allow all of these things to happen he said.
He was then asked what he thought of Jesus. He said he was the greatest human who ever lived. He was wise and had a deep moral conscious. He was a genius. He is the most important part of my life. Everything that I know about life, I learned it from Jesus. Everything right, pure, and loving Jesus taught me. And if I had to admit it – I really miss him. His eyes filled with tears, he cried, and he refused to go on with the interview.
I don’t know your story - I don’t know your relationship with Jesus. I don’t know how you know Jesus – But I know that you do. Somehow, someway you know Jesus. And that Jesus knows you and your story well.
I know Jesus. I know Jesus as a friend, I know Jesus as a savior, I know Jesus as my Lord. I believe in Jesus, because Jesus is an intrical part of my life story.
You now all religions acknowledge the importance of moral ethics. All religions strive for us to be a more loving world.
But Christianity is the only religion which offers salvation. Salvation is healing and well being in the midst of the suffering of the world. Salvation is the knowledge that you have been set aside because God has a greater purpose for you.
Do you believe in Jesus? Do you know Jesus to be your Lord and Savior?
The apostle creed is more than just a faith statement, it is more than a creed of what we should believe about Jesus?
It is a reminder, and affirmation of the power of Christ at work in the world today. When Jesus walked the earth – that power was unleashed in the world. When he was resurrected – that power was free to roam the earth – making itself known everywhere, at any time for anyone.
When you believe in Jesus, and know Jesus and live Jesus - then the world become the holy place – that God created for us all.
You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can it saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. You are a light to the world, a city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works, and give glory to your father in heaven.
Be a witness to what God has done for you – wherever you go. Amen.
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